Etymology Probably from a North Germanic language, compare Icelandic glossi (“spark, flame”), glossa (“to flame”); or perhaps from dialectal Dutch gloos (“a glow, flare”), related to West Frisian gloeze (“a glow”), Middle Low German glȫsen (“to smoulder, glow”), German glosen (“to smoulder”); ultimately from Proto-Germanic *glus- (“to glow, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰel- (“to flourish; be green or yellow”). More at glow.
1
Usually A surface shine or luster.
2
Figuratively, Usually A superficially or deceptively attractive appearance.
.
To me more dear, congenial to my heart, / One native charm than all the gloss of art.1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC:
1 more example
Hodgson may now have to bring in James Milner on the left and, on that basis, a certain amount of gloss was taken off a night on which Welbeck scored twice but barely celebrated either before leaving the pitch angrily complaining to the Slovakian referee.2013 September 7, Daniel Taylor, “Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban”, in The Guardian:
Etymology Probably from a North Germanic language, compare Icelandic glossi (“spark, flame”), glossa (“to flame”); or perhaps from dialectal Dutch gloos (“a glow, flare”), related to West Frisian gloeze (“a glow”), Middle Low German glȫsen (“to smoulder, glow”), German glosen (“to smoulder”); ultimately from Proto-Germanic *glus- (“to glow, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰel- (“to flourish; be green or yellow”). More at glow.
1
To give a gloss or sheen to.
2
To make (something) attractive by deception
You have the art to gloss the foulest cause.1722, Ambrose Philips, The Briton:
3
To become shiny.
4
Idiomatic Used in a phrasal verb: gloss over (“to cover up a mistake or crime, to treat something with less care than it deserves”).
Etymology From Middle English glosse, glose, from Late Latin glōssa (“obsolete or foreign word requiring explanation”), from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “language”). Doublet of glossa.
1
A brief explanatory note or translation of a foreign, archaic, technical, difficult, complex, or uncommon expression, inserted after the original, in the margin of a document, or between lines of a text.
All this, without a gloss or comment, / He would unriddle in a moment.1684, Samuel Butler, Hudibras:
He was a prolific annotator - writing around fifty thousand glosses in as many as twenty manuscripts.2021, Mary Wellesley, The Gilded Page: The Secret Lives of Medieval Manuscripts, page 9:
2
Synonym of glossary, a collection of such notes.
3
Obsolete An expression requiring such explanatory treatment.
4
An extensive commentary on some text.
5
LawUS An interpretation by a court of a specific point within a statute or case law.
This volume is thus not a narrowly defined treatment of the Code of Professional Responsibility but rather represents a "common law" gloss on it.1979, American Bar Foundation., Annotated code of professional responsibility, page ix:
Judicial Gloss on Test [section title]2007, Bruce R. Hopkins., The law of tax-exempt organizations., page 76:
6
Human sciences, Lexicography, Linguistics, Sciences A definition or explanation of a word sense.
Dictionary entries comprise two essential parts, the headword ('lemma') and the author's explanation ('gloss').2011, Gabriele Stein, “The linking of lemma to gloss in Elyot's Dictionary (1538)”, in Olga Timoleeva, Tanja Saily, editor, Words in Dictionaries and History: Essays in Honour of R. W. McConchie:
Therefore, for many of the Hebrew words in this book, I have provided more than one gloss (using a slash to separate alternatives, or double slashes when a single slash would be ambiguous), in order to give you a sense of the possible meanings of nuances […].2019, Jonathan Kline, A Proverb a Day in Biblical Hebrew, page xi: