What is gloss? The word is foreign in origin and has many shades of meaning, although they are all closely related to concepts such as brilliance, smoothness, and luminosity. More information about the fact that this is gloss will be described in the article.
First interpretation
As already mentioned, the “gloss” has several meanings. Here is what the dictionaries suggest on this subject.
According to the first option, this is a shine coming from a polished, overlaid or polished, waxed, varnished surface.
- Example 1. When leaving the house, Anton Nikolaevich, before putting on his galoshes, liked to put gloss on his huge boots.
- Example 2. To give the delicacy an attractive gloss, it is necessary to even out the thickness of the layer, and for this purpose the pastille is rolled several times with a wooden roller.
Second value
The second option reports that this is a reflection, a reflection on some smooth, even surface.
- Example 1. The girl’s face was so beautiful and refined that it seemed to cast a gloss and blind eyes.
- Example 2. While Nikolenka was sleeping, heavy rain was already over, and young leaves in their garden shone with gloss.
Figuratively
In the figurative meaning of “bring gloss” - this means to give the final finish to the finished work or to mask the unseemly essence of something.
- Example 1. Anna was sincerely grateful to her literary editor, because his wonderful sense of language helped bring gloss to her words.
- Example 2. These pseudo-historians have come up with many different stories describing the noble interests of the empire, thereby bringing gloss to all its past sins.
The connection with "glamor"
In this meaning in the dictionaries you can find the following two interpretations.
The generic name of glossy magazines is periodicals with a so-called glamorous focus.
- Example 1. You need to live happily in your own world, and not chase ghosts, not chase “leaders” from a blue screen or from glossy covers.
- Example 2. It is strange when beautiful Russian beauties equal Western thin women, not realizing that the passion of men for thin girls, inflated at every corner, is greatly exaggerated by the forces of gloss.
A synonym for the word "glamor", which is colloquial and denotes luxurious life and everything related to it: the chic atmosphere of a rich house, expensive cars, fashionable haute couture clothes.
- Example. Glamor, or gloss, is an aesthetic phenomenon that is based on the principles of hedonism, it is closely associated with fashion, show business, with the culture of mass consumption and focuses on the external brilliance and luxury.
In 2007, a famous Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky made a feature film called “Gloss”. This is a comedy about a sweet life with a bitter taste. The heroine of the picture, the provincial Galya, dreams of becoming a supermodel and goes to Moscow in search of a beautiful life. In the finale, the girl, having seen the inside of the world of gloss, becomes an elite bride, but she herself does not understand whether she needs it.
Outdated value
There is also an outdated interpretation of the word being studied, which means a special solution that gives gloss, gloss.
- Example. To prepare the gloss for processing the sculpture, you need to take 25 g of white soap, the same amount of white wax and dissolve in 0.8 l of water. This solution is coated with a brush. After drying, it must be wiped with a soft cloth, after which it will sparkle.
Type of fabric
Gloss is also a fabric imitating silk, which is a type of satin.
- Example. The word "satin" came to us from the French language, being borrowed by the French from Arabic. The Arabs called this material “zaituni,” which is derived from Zaitong, the ancient Arabic name for the Chinese harbor from which this material was brought — Quanzhou. This fabric has a pleasant silkiness, smoothness, for which it is also called "gloss".
Next, synonyms for the object under study will be considered.
Synonyms
The word “gloss” has such synonyms as:
- smooth surface;
- shine;
- gloss;
- varnish;
- Mirroring
- radiance;
- magnificence;
- beauty;
- purity;
- sparkling;
- polishing
- varnish;
- glaze;
- murava;
- order;
- marafet;
- Glamor
- chic;
- luxury;
- Journal.
For a better understanding of what gloss means, it is advisable to study the etymology of the word.
Origin
According to etymologists, the object in question comes from the pragerman basis glent in the meaning of "light". From it in Old High German glanz was formed, and then in German - the noun Glanz, meaning "shine, shine, gloss". In the Russian language, the noun “gloss” came from German by borrowing in the Petrine era.
An interesting fact is that the noun “gloss” is a “relative” of the verb “look”. Although the latter is considered a common Slavic word, formed from the noun gled - “look”, and in dialects the word “look” is observed in the same meaning.
However, the original meaning of the verb “look” is interpreted as “shine, sparkle” (eyes). And the noun gled is related to the Middle High German glanz - “shine”, and glinzen - “to shine”.