scowl
verbEtymology From Middle English scowlen, scoulen, skoulen (also as Middle English schoulen), probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Danish skule (“to scowl”), Norwegian skule (“to scowl”).
1
To wrinkle the brows, as in frowning or displeasure; to put on a frowning look; to look sour, sullen, severe, or angry.
- She scould, and frownd with froward countenaunce1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 35:
2
Broadly To look gloomy, dark, or threatening; to lower.
- The scowling heavens.a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:
3
To look at or repel with a scowl or a frown.
- to scowl a rival into submission
4
To express by a scowl.
- to scowl defiance