gloom

noun

/ɡluːm/UK/ɡlum/US

Etymology

From Middle English *gloom, *glom, from Old English glōm (“gloaming, twilight, darkness”), from Proto-West Germanic *glōm, from Proto-Germanic *glōmaz (“gleam, shimmer, sheen”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to gleam, shimmer, glow”). The English word is cognate with Norwegian glom (“transparent membrane”), Scots gloam (“twilight; faint light; dull gleam”).

derived from *ǵʰley-✻ — “to gleam, shimmer, glow”
inherited from *glōmaz✻ — “gleam, shimmer, sheen”
inherited from *glōm✻
inherited from glōm — “gloaming, twilight, darkness”
inherited from *gloom✻

Definitions

1
Darkness, dimness, or obscurity.
- the gloom of a forest, or of midnight
- On December 13, Maritime-liveried 66051 powers out of the early morning gloom with three repatriated Class 66s, on the 0809 Dollands Moor Sidings-Scunthorpe Redbourne Siding.
2
A depressing, despondent, or melancholic atmosphere.
- Although it's always crowded You still can find some room For broken-hearted lovers To cry there in their gloom.
3
Cloudiness or heaviness of mind
Cloudiness or heaviness of mind; melancholy; aspect of sorrow; low spirits; dullness.
- A sullen gloom and furious disorder prevailed by fits.
›+ 6 more definitionsshow fewer
1. A drying oven used in gunpowder manufacture.
2. 5
  To be dark or gloomy.
  - Here, while the proud their long drawn pomps diſplay, / There the black gibbet glooms beſide the way.
  - Around all the dark forest gloomed.
3. 6
  To look or feel sad, sullen or despondent.
  - Her face gathers, furrows, glooms; arching eyebrows wrinkle into horizontals, and a tinge of bitterness unsmooths the cheek and robs the lip of sweetened grace. She is evidently perturbed.
  - Ciss was a big, dark-complexioned, pug-faced young woman who seemed to be glooming about something.
  - "Is Maggie then astonishing too?"—and he gloomed out of his window.
4. 7
  To render gloomy or dark
  To render gloomy or dark; to obscure; to darken.
  - A black yew gloom'd the stagnant air.
5. 8
  To fill with gloom
  To fill with gloom; to make sad, dismal, or sullen.
  - For see you not, dear love, / Such a mood as that, which lately gloom'd / Your fancy when you saw me following you, / Must make me fear still more you are not mine, […]
  - Good Heaven! What ſorrows gloom'd that parting day, / That called them from their native walks away; […]
6. To shine or appear obscurely or imperfectly
  To shine or appear obscurely or imperfectly; to glimmer.

The neighborhood

neighborgloam

Derived

begloom, doom and gloom, engloom, gloomcore, gloomful, gloomies, gloomily, gloomish, gloomleader, gloomless, gloomsome, gloomster, gloomth, gloomward, gloomy, June gloom, outgloom, overgloom, semigloom, undergloom, ungloomed

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at gloom. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

A definitional loop anchored at gloom. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

6 hops · closes at gloom

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA