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Webster 1913 Edition


Gloom

Gloom

(gloōm)
,
Noun.
[AS.
glōm
twilight, from the root of E.
glow
. See
Glow
, and cf.
Glum
,
Gloam
.]
1.
Partial or total darkness; thick shade; obscurity;
as, the
gloom
of a forest, or of midnight
.
2.
A shady, gloomy, or dark place or grove.
Before a
gloom
of stubborn-shafted oaks.
Tennyson .
3.
Cloudiness or heaviness of mind; melancholy; aspect of sorrow; low spirits; dullness.
A sullen
gloom
and furious disorder prevailed by fits.
Burke.
4.
In gunpowder manufacture, the drying oven.
Syn. – Darkness; dimness; obscurity; heaviness; dullness; depression; melancholy; dejection; sadness. See
Darkness
.

Gloom

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Gloomed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Glooming
.]
1.
To shine or appear obscurely or imperfectly; to glimmer.
2.
To become dark or dim; to be or appear dismal, gloomy, or sad; to come to the evening twilight.
The black gibbet
glooms
beside the way.
Goldsmith.
[This weary day] . . . at last I see it
gloom
.
Spenser.

Gloom

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To render gloomy or dark; to obscure; to darken.
A bow window . . .
gloomed
with limes.
Walpole.
A black yew
gloomed
the stagnant air.
Tennyson.
2.
To fill with gloom; to make sad, dismal, or sullen.
Such a mood as that which lately
gloomed

Your fancy.
Tennison.
What sorrows
gloomed
that parting day.
Goldsmith.

Webster 1828 Edition


Gloom

GLOOM

,
Noun.
1.
Obscurity; partial or total darkness; thick shade; as the gloom of a forest, or the gloom of midnight.
2.
Cloudiness or heaviness of mind; melancholy; aspect of sorrow. We say, the mind is sunk into gloom; a gloom overspreads the mind.
3.
Darkness of prospect or aspect.
4.
Sullenness.

GLOOM

,
Verb.
I.
To shine obscurely or imperfectly.
1.
To be cloudy, dark or obscure.
2.
To be melancholy or dejected.

GLOOM

,
Verb.
T.
To obscure; to fill with gloom; to darken; to make dismal.

Definition 2024


gloom

gloom

English

Noun

gloom (uncountable)

  1. Darkness, dimness or obscurity.
    the gloom of a forest, or of midnight
    • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4
      Here was a surprise, and a sad one for me, for I perceived that I had slept away a day, and that the sun was setting for another night. And yet it mattered little, for night or daytime there was no light to help me in this horrible place; and though my eyes had grown accustomed to the gloom, I could make out nothing to show me where to work.
  2. A melancholy, depressing or despondent atmosphere.
  3. Cloudiness or heaviness of mind; melancholy; aspect of sorrow; low spirits; dullness.
    • Burke
      A sullen gloom and furious disorder prevailed by fits.
  4. A drying oven used in gunpowder manufacture.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

gloom (third-person singular simple present glooms, present participle glooming, simple past and past participle gloomed)

  1. (intransitive) To be dark or gloomy.
    • Goldsmith
      The black gibbet glooms beside the way.
    • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 189:
      Around all the dark forest gloomed.
  2. (intransitive) to look or feel sad, sullen or despondent.
    • 1882, W. Marshall, Strange Chapman (volume 2, page 170)
      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.
    • D. H. Lawrence
      Ciss was a big, dark-complexioned, pug-faced young woman who seemed to be glooming about something.
  3. (transitive) To render gloomy or dark; to obscure; to darken.
    • Walpole
      A bow window [] gloomed with limes.
    • Tennyson
      A black yew gloomed the stagnant air.
  4. (transitive) To fill with gloom; to make sad, dismal, or sullen.
    • Tennyson
      Such a mood as that which lately gloomed your fancy.
    • Goldsmith
      What sorrows gloomed that parting day.
  5. To shine or appear obscurely or imperfectly; to glimmer.

Quotations

  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:gloom.