Etymology From Middle English glory, glorie, from Old French glorie (“glory”), from Latin glōria (“glory, fame, renown, praise, ambition, boasting”). Doublet of gloria. Displaced native Old English wuldor.
He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:
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Honour, admiration, or distinction, accorded by common consent to a person or thing; high reputation; renown.
In this faire wize they traueild long yfere, Through many hard assayes, which did betide; Of which he honour still away did beare, And spred his glorie through all countries wide.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 197:
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That quality in a person or thing which secures general praise or honour.
Deeme it no gloire to swell in tyrannie.c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
As jewels lose their glory if neglected, So princes their renowns if not respected.c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
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Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
It is a question whether the glory of mankind can be added to or taken away from. I don't think any material achievement enhances it. If a man, or two men, or a hundred—for I had companions at various stages as in the transit of the Pacific—fly around the globe, mankind isn't thereby the more glorious, is it? Nor nearer an assurance of a life, of some sort, everlasting. No, it must be that what counts is the example of devoted and persistent action to the performance of a set purpose. I circumaviate the globe and somewhere in a London slum a poor cripple takes heart of hope and tries to walk, for the first time, with the aid of crutches. Crutches break, and so do the ailerons of airplanes; it is only the soul which rises on sustaining wings.1924, Grant Overton, The Thousand and First Night, George H. Doran Company, page 279:
He's the only person I know who's going to vote at all. Most people have given up on politicians. After all, politicians have been promising to return us to the glory, wealth, and order of the twentieth century ever since I can remember.1993, Octavia Butler, chapter 3, in The Parable of the Sower:
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Worship or praise.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 2:14:
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Climatology, Engineering, Meteorology, Natural sciences, Optics, Physical sciences, Physics An optical phenomenon, consisting of concentric rings and somewhat similar to a rainbow, caused by sunlight or moonlight interacting with the water droplets that compose mist or clouds, centered on the antisolar or antilunar point.
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Victory; success.
But, with United fans in celebratory mood as it appeared their team might snatch glory, they faced an anxious wait as City equalised in stoppage time.2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:
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An emanation of light supposed to shine from beings that are specially holy. It is represented in art by rays of gold, or the like, proceeding from the head or body, or by a disk, or a mere line.
How does the Luſtre of our Father’s Actions, Through the dark Cloud of Ills that cover him, Break out, and burn with more triumphant Brightneſs! His Suff’rings ſhine, and ſpread a Glory round him; […]1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:
Seen across the dim candle with his moistened eyes, she looked as if she had a glory shining round her head.1854, Charles Dickens, chapter 13, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC:
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Lifestyle, Religion, Theology The manifestation of the presence of God as perceived by humans in Abrahamic religions.
[…] But if thou declare The Secrets, truth; and art so mad to dare (In glory of thy fortunes) to approue, That rich-crownd Venus, mixt with thee in loue; Ioue (fir’d with my aspersion, so dispred) Will, with a wreakefull lightning, dart thee dead.c. 1624, “A Hymne to Venus”, in George Chapman, transl., The Crowne of all Homers Workes Batrachomyomachia or the Battaile of Frogs and Mise, His Hymn’s and Epigrams, London: John Bill, page 106:
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Something glorious.
It was a woman’s clothing, beyond a doubt, […] The two men gazed at the heap of feminine glories, — it might have been the most wonderful sight they ever had seen.1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
Etymology From Middle English glory, glorie, from Old French glorie (“glory”), from Latin glōria (“glory, fame, renown, praise, ambition, boasting”). Doublet of gloria. Displaced native Old English wuldor.
1
To exult with joy; to rejoice.
In what the Apostle did glory?—He gloried in a Cross. ... [T]o the Ear of a Galatian, it conveyed much the same Meaning, as if the Apostle had gloried in a Halter; gloried in the Gallows; gloried in a Gibbet.1753, James Hervey, A Visitation Sermon: Preached at Northampton, May 10, 1753:
He says he glories in what happened, and that good may be done indirectly; but I wish he would not so wear himself out now he is getting old, and would leave such pigs to their wallowing.1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles:
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When the passion is extreme, suffering may actually be gloried in, provided it be for the ideal cause, death may lose its sting, the grave its victory.1902, William James, “Lectures 4 & 5”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC:
2
To boast; to be proud.
For if in anything I have gloried to him on your behalf, I was not put to shame; but as we spake all things to you in truth, so our glorying also, which I made before Titus, was found to be truth.1881, Revised Version, 2 Corinthians 7:14