Word.ws English Dictionary

gossip mirror

Syllables: gos·sip mir·rorUK/ˈɡɒsɪp ˌmɪɹə//ˈɡɑsəp ˌmɪɹəɹ/

gossip mirror noun: a mirror or pair of mirrors mounted outside a window, allowing the viewer to see along a street while remaining indoors.

gossip mirror: a mirror or pair of mirrors mounted outside a window, allowing the viewer to see along a street...
Image: Erik Damskier, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

gossip mirror (plural gossip mirrors)

  1. A mirror or pair of mirrors mounted outside a window, allowing the viewer to see along a street while remaining indoors.
    • Röschen was keeping watch at the gossip-mirror in the library window, and would give warning as soon as she saw the great R and his Hindoo adept in the distance.1891 June, Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen, “The Elixir of Pain. Chapter X.”, in The Cosmopolitan: A Monthly Illustrated Magazine, volume XI, number 2, New York, N.Y.: The Cosmopolitan Publishing Company...
    • Hand in hand after dinner they wandered through the streets of narrow, stilted houses with heavy, ornate balconies and brilliant doors, set in dull yellow or olive stucco, and their passage was reflected at all angles from the gossip-mirror adroitly fixed to every window.1952, March Cost [pseudonym; Margaret Mackie Morrison], “Thursday … 10 a.m.”, in The Hour Awaits, 1st American edition, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company...
    Synonyms:
    street mirror

Synonyms of gossip mirror

Forms of gossip mirror

pluralgossip mirrors
alternative formgossip-mirror

Origin of gossip mirror

From gossip (noun) + mirror (noun), a calque of a North Germanic language (compare Finnish juorupeili and Swedish skvallerspegel), from the idea that such mirrors are used by gossips to spy on other people in the street.

Questions about gossip mirror

What does gossip mirror mean?
Gossip mirror means a mirror or pair of mirrors mounted outside a window, allowing the viewer to see along a street while remaining indoors.
What part of speech is gossip mirror?
Gossip mirror is a noun.
How do you pronounce gossip mirror?
Gossip mirror is pronounced /ˈɡɒsɪp ˌmɪɹə/ (UK).
What is the plural of gossip mirror?
The plural of gossip mirror is gossip mirrors.

Words near gossip mirror in the dictionary

  1. gossima
  2. Gossington
  3. gossip
  4. gossip mill
  5. gossip mills
  6. gossip mirror
  7. gossip mirrors
  8. gossip'd
  9. gossip-mill
  10. gossip-mills
  11. gossip-mirror

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gossip mirror (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-gossip mirror.wav.

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