lour
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English louren, lour, loure (“to frown or scowl; to be dark or overcast; to droop, fade, wither; to lurk, skulk”), probably from Old English *lūran, *lūrian, from Proto-Germanic *lūraną (“to lie in wait, lurk”).
The English word is cognate with Danish lure (“to lie in ambush; to take a nap”), Middle Dutch loeren (modern Dutch loeren (“to lurk, spy on”)), Middle Low German lûren (“to lie in ambush”), German Low German luren (“to lurk”), Middle High German lūren (“to lie in ambush”) (modern German lauern (“to lie in ambush; to lurk”)), Icelandic lúra (“to take a nap”), Saterland Frisian luurje (“to lie in wait”), West Frisian loere (“to lurk”), and Swedish lura (“to lie in ambush; to deceive, fool, trick; to lure; to take a nap”); and is related to lurk.
The noun is derived from the verb.
Inflected forms:
form: lours
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: louring
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: loured
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: loured
pos: verb
tags: past
form: lower
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: lours
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To frown; to look sullen.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: [...] Juno took her place:
 But ſullen Diſcontent ſat lowring on her Face.
And solace sought he none from priest nor leech, / And soon the same in movement and in speech, / As heretofore he fill'd the passing hours, / Nor less he smiles, nor more his forehead lours / Than these were wont; [...]
Their lank black hair hung round their black visages; and the only points of relief in the wild countenance which loured from under their strange head-dresses, were the dark, piercing eyes, and the white teeth.
gloss: To be dark, gloomy, and threatening, as clouds; of the sky: to be covered with dark and threatening clouds; to show threatening signs of approach, as a tempest.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: Now is the winter of our diſcontent,
 Made glorious ſummer by this ſonne of Yorke:
 And all the cloudes that lowrd vpon our houſe,
 In the deepe boſome of the Ocean buried.
And with them comes a third of Regal port, / But faded ſplendor wan; who by his gate / And fierce demeanour ſeems the Prince of Hell, / Not likely to part hence without conteſt; / Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours.
The Dawn is over-caſt, the Morning low’rs,
And heavily in Clouds brings on the Day, […]
Weather in Auguſt, 1787. [...] dark, louring, cool, briſk ſhower.
The sun might shine, or the clouds might lour; but nothing could appear to me as it had done the day before.
And still when loudliest howls the storm, / And darkliest lowers his native sky, / The king's fierce soul is in that form, / The warrior's spirit threatens nigh!
The queen's letter coming up to the duchess's own ideas of her own deserts, she condescended to speak on the subject which had caused such portentous blackness to lour on her countenance, on her first meeting her royal mistress.
Seek to be prosperous; once let fortune lour, and the aid supplied by friends is naught.
If here to-day the cloud of thunder lours / To-morrow it will hie on far behests; [...]
gloss: A frown, a scowl; an angry or sullen look.
pos: noun
examples: I have ſuch averſion to ill temper, that I could ſooner forgive my wife adultery, than croſſneſs. I cannot taſte Caſſio's kiſs on her lips; but I can ſee a lour on her brow.
gloss: Of the sky, the weather, etc.: a dark, gloomy, and threatening appearance.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
Derived words: louring
lowering
louringly
loweringly
Translations: