gloze

/ɡləʊz/

gloze noun: a comment in the margin; explanatory note; gloss; commentary.

Noun

gloze (plural glozes)

A comment in the margin; explanatory note; gloss; commentary.
- So we o’ershroud stars and roses,
  Cherub and trophy and garland.
  Nothings grow something which quietly closes
  Heaven’s earnest eye,—not a glimpse of the far land
  Gets through our comments and glozes.1855, Robert Browning, “Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha”, in Men and Women, stanza 24
- The state of practice in the first half of the fifteenth century may be gathered from the gloze of Nicholas de Tudeschis, called Panormitan, on the text Ut quisque which we have quoted above.1903, Cuthbert Atchley, The Parish Clerk, and his Right to Read the Liturgical Epistle, Alcuin Club Tracts IV, London: Longmans, Green & Co., p. 15
Flattery.
- […] if Virtue aught may crave, or Heav’n,
  Beware, alike, of factious leagues, impure,
  And courtly glozes vile.1803, Jerome Alley, The Judge; or, An Estimate of the Importance of the Judicial Character, London: Vernor & Hood, Canto III, page 97
- No tender word or dainty gloze
  Could give him pleasure half so fine
  As that which tingled to her blows.1897, J. G. Holland, “Love’s Philosophies”, in The Mistress of the Manse, A Poem, New York: Scribner, III, p. 93
(False) appearance.
- We have flattered thee, O Lord, with our tongues, and dissembled in our double hearts like the Israelites, whom thou hast fearfully punished in the sight of all the world, and saluted thee long with Judas kiss; to wit, with a vizard and show of religion, with the gloze of outward profession...1585, John Aylmer, “A necessarie and godly prayer appoynted by the right reverend Father in God John, Bishop of London to be used throughout all his Dioces upon Sondayes and Frydayes, for the turning...
- Wear not the mask of Love upon thy face,
  For fear my eye discern; ’twere better veil
  The sweet serenity Love’s eye would trace,
  Than with its gloze to make his visage stale.1859, Leander Clark, “Sonnet No. 6” in Kenridge Hall, and Other Poems, Washington: Franklin Philp, p. 72
A specious show, a deceit.
- Now to plain-dealing; lay these glozes by:
  Shall we resolve to woo these girls of France?c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry...

Verb

gloze (third-person singular simple present glozes, present participle glozing, simple past and past participle glozed)

(literary) To extenuate, explain away, gloss over.
- Heaven, that I had thy head! he has found the meaning:
  But I will gloze with him.c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry...
- Of what were generative organs made? / And for what profit were those creatures wrought? / [...] / Gloze as you will and plead the explanation / That they were only made for the purgation / Of urine, little things of no avail / Except to know a female from a male […]1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 279
To use flattering language.
- […] looke to see the throne where you should sit,
  To floate in bloud, and at thy wanton head,
  The glozing head of thy base minion throwne.1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC...
- So gloz’d the Tempter, and his Proem tun’d;
  Into the Heart of Eve his words made way,1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
Synonyms:

jolly, lay it on thick, puff, brush up to, collogue, flatter, flatterize, glaver, make fair weather, palaver
To smooth over; to palliate by specious explanation.
- On this ground it is that Christianity works its way in Christianizing a community—if only it have free scope. It does this, not by glozing the evil that is in the world; not by extenuating, or by exaggerating the damage which human nature has sustained; but it does so by raising, in all minds, the...1860, Isaac Taylor, “Ultimate Civilization”, in Ultimate Civilization, and Other Essays, London: Bell & Daldy, page 37
- …his contempt for every romantic or sentimental motive that would gloze over real causes, and represent the conduct of human beings rather as we would have it to be than as it is…1906, E. A. Baker, Introduction to Moll Flanders and Roxana, G. Routledge & Sons (New York), p. xviii
To give a shine to (something or someone).
- The scanty light glozed them with the glory of day, and, forgetful of pain and thirst and hunger, and of the menace of death, they sank upon the floor and cried, keeping fast hold of each other the while.1880, Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, Book 6, Chapter 2

gloze meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Kannada

gloze in Tamil

பொய்த் தோற்றம், தணித்துக்கூறல்

gloze in Urdu

تبصرہ کرنا, چاپلوسی کرنا

gloze in Kannada

ತಿಳಿಸಿಹೇಳು

Synonyms of gloze

5 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of gloze

Forms of gloze

Noun
plural	glozes
Verb
third-person singular present	glozes
present participle	glozing
past participle	glozed
past	glozed

Origin of gloze

From Middle English glosen, from Old French gloser, from Medieval Latin glossa. Doublet of gloss and glossa.

Words formed from gloze

Words that rhyme with gloze

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about gloze

What does gloze mean?: Gloze means a comment in the margin; explanatory note; gloss; commentary.
What is gloze in Tamil?: Gloze in Tamil is பொய்த் தோற்றம், தணித்துக்கூறல். See Gloze meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is gloze?: Gloze can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce gloze?: Gloze is pronounced /ɡləʊz/.
What is the plural of gloze?: The plural of gloze is glozes.

Words near gloze in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: gloze (page history and authors); gloze (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gloze (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gloze (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-gloze.wav.

Cite this entry: “gloze.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gloze. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.