Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ


Jul 22, 2010
This week's theme
Words that look one part of speech but are other

This week's words
contumely
panegyric
nebbish
gloaming
beggar
Discuss
Feedback
RSS/XML
Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

gloaming

PRONUNCIATION:
(GLO-ming)

MEANING:
noun: Twilight; dusk.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Middle English gloming, from Old English glomung, from glom (dusk). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghel- (to shine), which is also the source of words such as yellow, gold, glimmer, glimpse, glass, arsenic, melancholy, and cholera.

USAGE:
"The book is a marked departure from previous (Robert) Harris works set in the chill gloaming of mid-20th-century European history, an era that has fascinated him since he was a child."
Alan Cowell; A Writer's Allegories For Today; International Herald Tribune (Paris, France); Nov 18, 2003.

See more usage examples of gloaming in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I once met a man who had forgiven an injury. I hope some day to meet the man who has forgiven an insult. -Charles Buxton, brewer, philanthropist, writer, and politician (1823-1871)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith