Definition of "gloss" in English

noun

1. A surface shine or luster.

2. (figuratively) A superficially or deceptively attractive appearance.

   • .

verb

1. (transitive) To give a gloss or sheen to.

2. (transitive) To make (something) attractive by deception

3. (intransitive) To become shiny.

4. (transitive, idiomatic) Used in a phrasal verb: gloss over (“to cover up a mistake or crime, to treat something with less care than it deserves”).

noun

1. (countable) 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.

2. (countable) Synonym of glossary, a collection of such notes.

3. (countable, obsolete) An expression requiring such explanatory treatment.

4. (countable) An extensive commentary on some text.

5. (countable, law, US) An interpretation by a court of a specific point within a statute or case law.

6. (lexicography) A definition or explanation of a word sense.

verb

1. (transitive) To add a gloss to (a text).