glow
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English glouen, glowen (“to give off heat and light without flame; of a thing: to be heated until red hot; to be brightly coloured; to shine brightly; (figurative) to be filled with emotion; of the face, etc.: to turn red, flush; etc.”), and then either:
* from Old English glōwan (“to glow”) (a strong verb), from Proto-West Germanic *glōan (“to glow”); or
* because the Middle English and modern English words are weak verbs, possibly from Old Norse *glówa, thought to be a variant of glóa (“to glow”), also a weak verb;
both from Proto-Germanic *glōaną (“to glow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰleh₁- (“to shine, glow; to be shining, glowing”). Possibly a doublet of glass.
The noun is derived from the verb.
cognates
* Dutch gloeien
* Finnish loistaa
* German glühen
* Norwegian glo
* Old Norse glóa (Danish glo, Icelandic glóa, Swedish glo)
* Saterland Frisian gloie, glöie, gluuje
* West Frisian gloeie
Inflected forms:
form: glows
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: glowing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: glowed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: glew
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
past
form: glowed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: glew
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
participle
past
form: glown
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
participle
past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: glow
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: glow
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: glowed
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: glow
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: glowest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: glowed
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: glowedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: glows
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: gloweth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: glowed
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: glow
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: glowed
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: glow
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: glowed
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: glow
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: glowing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: glowed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: glows
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To emit heat and light without a flame.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Iron glows red hot when heated to near its melting point.
gloss: Of a fire: to emit heat and light.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The fire was still glowing after ten hours.
The mettled Steeds, vvhen from their Noſtrils flovvs / The ſcorching Fire, that in their Entrails glovvs.
To-night will I pure Magian be, / Hymns to thy [a fire's] sole honor raising, / While thou leapest fast and faster, / Wild with self-delighted glee, / Or sink'st low and glowest faintly / As an aureole still and saintly, / Keeping cadence to my praising / Thee! still thee! and only thee!
The Sun, how it gloweth, all day gloweth down, / On the gray of thy turrets, O wonderful town!
gloss: To emit light brightly and steadily as if heated to a high temperature; to shine.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: [N]ovv glovv'd the Firmament / VVith living Saphirs: […]
The Temple ſhakes, the ſounding Gates unfold, / VVide Vaults appear, and Roofs of fretted Gold: / […] / Of bright, tranſparent Beryl vvere the VValls, / The Freezes Gold, and Gold the Capitals: / As Heaven vvith Stars, the Roof vvith Jevvels glovvs, / And ever living Lamps depend in Rovvs.
gloss: To be very hot; also, to be on fire; to burn.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: [T]he torrid Zone / Glovvs vvith the paſſing and repaſſing Sun.
Firſt vvith nice eye emerging Naiads cull / From leathery pods the vegetable vvool [cotton]; / VVith vviry teeth revolving cards releaſe / The tangled knots, and ſmooth the ravell'd fleece; / […] / Then fly the ſpoles, the rapid axles glovv, / And ſlovvly circumvolves the labouring vvheel belovv.
[N]ow, evermore, till thy long race is run, mine eyes shall glow into thy brain, and mine arms shall clasp thee, when thou wouldst take the wings of the Morning, and flee from the embrace of Night!
gloss: Of a colour: to be bright; also, of a thing: to have a bright colour.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: The new baby’s room glows with bright, loving colours.
To vvhom the Angel vvith a ſmile that glovv'd / Celeſtial roſie red, Loves proper hue, / Anſvver'd.
Vice dvvells in Palaces, is Richly Dreſt, / There glovvs in Scarlet, and the Tyrian Veſt.
[T]he fair Fruit that on yon' Branches glovvs / VVith that ripe red th' Autumnal Sun beſtovvs, […]
As ſhines the lily thro' the cryſtal mild; / Or as the roſe amid the morning devv, / Freſh from Aurora’s hand, more ſvveetly glovvs.
The hills glowed like purple amethysts, the sky glowed topaz and vermilion colours.
[H]is tunic glowed in the richest hues of the Tyrian dye, and the fibulæ, or buckles, by which it was fastened sparkled with emeralds: […]
Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.
gloss: Of a person: to display intense emotion.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: a healthy glow
The zealots glowed with religious fervor.
You are glowing from happiness!
A fire vvhich every vvindy paſſion blovvs; / VVith pride it mounts, and vvith revenge it glovvs.
But vvhile vvith fierceſt Ire Bellona glovvs, / And Europe rather Hopes than Fears Her Fate: / VVhile Britain preſes Her afflicted Foes: / VVhat Horror damps the Strong, and quells the Great?
Is it for him theſe Tears are taught to flovv, / For him theſe Sorrovvs? for my mortal Foe? / A gen'rous Friendſhip no cold Medium knovvs, / Burns vvith one Love, vvith one Reſentment glovvs; […]
[H]e […] defined Honour to be a certain Ardour or Enthuſiaſm that glovved in the breaſt of a gallant Man.
I glovv'd betvveen Shame and Delight. O hovv I felt my Cheeks burn!
Love! vvho vvithout ceaſing glovvedſt, / Tho' dire Pangs thy Heart beſet: […]
[I]n the defence of the ſepulchre of Chriſt, the natives and ſtrangers might feel ſome ſparks of the enthuſiaſm vvhich ſo fiercely glovved in the boſoms of the Saracens.
Who rescued me from certain death, / From slavery? / Didst thou not do all this thyself, / My sacred glowing heart? / And glowedst, young and good, / Deceived with grateful thanks / To yonder slumbering one?
The Tories, glowing with resentment which was but too just, were resolved to listen to no terms of compromise.
gloss: Of a person's body or a part of it: to feel hot and often to flush (“become suffused with a reddish colour”) as well, due to an emotional response, exertion, etc.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: After their workout, the gymnasts’ faces were glowing.
Moreover, is not this an opinion generally received, That vvhen our ears do glovv and tingle, ſome there be that in our abſence doe talke of us?
Did not he lead you through the Mid-day Sun, / And Clouds of Duſt? Did not his Temples glovv / In the ſame ſultry VVinds, and ſcorching Heats?
She glovvs vvith Bluſhes, and ſhe hangs her Head.
VVilliam, vvho high upon the yard [of a ship], / Rock'd vvith the billovv to and fro, / […] / The cord ſlides ſvviftly through his glovving hands, / And, (quick as lightning,) on the deck he ſtands.
[H]er cheek glowed while she spoke; but an arch, provokiong smile was on her lips.
"And how do you know that, my sweet Madam?" said the adventurer, turning first deadly pale, and then glowing red.
gloss: To be involved in an (chiefly online) undercover sting operation, especially by American federal agencies.
pos: verb
tags: Internet
US
figuratively
intransitive
examples: If this post glows any brighter I'm going to need sunglasses. 😄🕶👌
gloss: To create a threatening online post that may involve violence, and look suspicious enough to attract a police investigation.
pos: verb
tags: Internet
US
figuratively
intransitive
gloss: To emit (flame).
pos: verb
tags: archaic
obsolete
transitive
examples: Shall Pagan Pages glovv celeſtial Flame, / And Chriſtian, languiſh?
gloss: To expose (someone) to the authorities.
pos: verb
tags: Internet
figuratively
transitive
gloss: To make (something) hot; to heat.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: On each ſide her, / Stood pretty Dimpled Boyes, like ſmiling Cupids, / VVith diuers coulour'd Fannes vvhoſe vvinde did ſeeme / To gloue the delicate cheekes vvhich they did coole, / And vvhat they vndid did.
gloss: A state of heat and light being emitted by a hot object.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The struggling spark of good within, / Just smother'd in the strife of sin, / They quicken to a timely glow, / The pure flame spreading high and low.
My garden is the cloven rock, / And my manure the snow; / And drifting sand-heaps feed my stock, / In summer's scorching glow.
[T]he light, though hidden by the corner, shone through the passage window and made a glow, in the air, a glow that could be seen, especially when the night was dark, from no less a distance than ten or fifteen paces. Thus all that Art and Con had to do, when the night was favourable, was to advance a little way along the avenue, until they reached the place whence the light, if it was burning, must be visible, as a glow, a feeble glow, in the air, and thence to go on, towards the back door, or to go back, towards the gate, as the case might be.
The door of the twins' room opposite was open; a twenty-watt night-light threw a weak yellow glow into the passageway. David could hear the twins breathing in time with each other.
gloss: A state of heat being emitted by a person or an animal's body.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.
["]You must be frozen." / "Well, Lizzie, I ain't of a glow; that's certain. And my hands seemed nailed through to the sculls. See how dead they are!"
gloss: A state of light being emitted by something (for example, a bioluminescent animal or fungus, or a mineral) which is not hot; luminescence.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: So if you find yourself regularly up late at night, basking in the TV's glow, you might be doing more than just depriving yourself of sleep.
gloss: A state of brightness or warmth of colour; specifically, a reddish colour on a person's face indicating health or youth; a flush.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: He had a bright red glow on his face.
If you vvill ſee a pageant truely plaid / Betvveene the pale complexion of true Loue, / And the red glovve of ſcorne and provvd diſdaine, / Goe hence a little, and I ſhall conduct you / If you vvill marke it.
As ſhines the lily thro' the cryſtal mild; / Or as the roſe amid the morning-devv / Puts on a vvarmer glovv.
[T]he roſes on thoſe cheeks are ſhaded vvith a ſort of velvet dovvn, that gives a delicacy to the glovv of health.
The Moon is in her summer glow, / But hoarse and high the breezes blow, / And, racking o'er her face, the cloud / Varies the tincture of her shroud; […]
O! not for thee the glow, the bloom, / ⁠Who changest not in any gale! / ⁠Nor branding summer suns avail / To touch thy thousand years of gloom.
Mary [II] was gone, cut off in the prime of life, in the glow of beauty, in the height of prosperity; and Anne would do well to profit by the warning.
Up I rose and forth I fared: / Took my plunge within the bath-pool, pacified the watch-dog scared, / Saw proceed the transmutation—Jura's black to one gold glow, […]
gloss: A condition of being passionate or having warm feelings; an ardour.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: There's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away, / When the glow of early thought declines in feeling's dull decay; […]
[…] Romola felt herself surrounded and possessed by the glow of his passionate faith.
"And you come, brother," said Mr. Wegg, in a hospitable glow, "you come like I don't know what—exactly like it—I shouldn't know you from it—shedding a halo all around you."
Related words: gleed
glowie
Derived words: aglow
glew
GloFish
glower
glowing
glow-in-the-dark
glownigger
glow up
outglow
glowy
reglow
afterglow
airglow
Asian glow
aspenglow
candleglow
counterglow
Day-Glo
dayglow
electroglow
evenglow
foreglow
glow-beetle
glowboy
glow-bug
glow discharge
glow-down
glow fly
glowlamp
glow-lamp
glowless
glowlight
glowlighting
glow party
glow plug
glowpost
glowsome
glow starter
glow stick
glowstone
glow-up
glowworm
golden glow
moonglow
neon glow lamp
nightglow
overglow
photoglow
skyglow
sunglow
underglow
wonderglow
Translations: