Link Centre Dictionary

glamour

gla·mour

UK/ˈɡlæmə/ US/ˈɡlamə/ fairly common slang

noun

1.

alluring beauty or charm (often with sex-appeal)

Synonyms

verb

1.

cast a spell over someone or something; put a hex on someone or something

Origin

Borrowed from Scots glamour (“magic”), alteration of Middle English gramere (“grammar”), from Old French gramaire. Doublet of glamoury, gramarye, grammar, and grimoire. A connection has also been suggested with Old Norse glámr (“the moon", also "the name of a ghost”, poetic byname, literally “the pale one”) and glámsýni (“glamour, illusion”, literally “glam-sight”). From Grettir's Saga aka Grettis Saga, one of the Sagas of Icelanders, after the hero has been cursed by Glam, aka Glamr: "...he was become so fearsome a man in the dark, that he durst go nowhither alone after nightfall, for then he seemed to see all kinds of horrors. And that has fallen since into a proverb, that "Glam lends eyes", or gives Glamsight to those who see things nowise as they are."

Phrases

  • glam rock
  • glammed up
  • glamour girl
  • glamour issue
  • glamour model
  • glamour photography
  • glitz and glamour

Related words

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.