: to dispose of by false or perverse interpretation
trying to gloss away the irrationalities of the universe Irwin Edman
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The verb gloss, referring to a brief explanation, comes from Greek glôssa, meaning "tongue," "language," or "obscure word." There is also the familiar phrase gloss over, meaning "to deal with (something) too lightly or not at all." That gloss is related to Germanic glosen, "to glow or shine," and comes from the noun gloss, which in English can refer to a shine on a surface or to a superficial attractiveness that is easily dismissed.
akin to Middle High German glosen to glow, shine; akin to Old English geolu yellow
Noun (2)
alteration (by conformation to its Latin and Greek source) of glose, gloze, going back to Middle English glose, borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Medieval Latin glōsa, glōssa "tongue, language, commentary on a word or passage, compilation of such commentaries" (Latin, "collection of unfamiliar words"), borrowed from Greek glôssa, (Attic) glôtta, (Ionic) glássa "tongue, language, obscure word requiring explanation," derivative in *-i̯ā from the stem of a presumed root noun *glṓks "point, something pointed," perhaps going back to an Indo-European nominative *glōgh-s, genitive *gl̥gh-ós; from the same base Greek glôches "awns of a head of grain," glōchī́s "projecting point (as the end of a yoke fastening or the barb of an arrow)"
Note: Despite its Indo-European look, this set of Greek words has no definite congeners in other Indo-European languages; kinship with Slavic *glogŭ "hawthorn" (Czech hloh, Polish głóg, Serbian & Croatian glȍg; Russian glog "dogwood") is uncertain.
Verb (2)
alteration (after gloss entry 3) of glose, gloze, going back to Middle English glosen, borrowed from Anglo-French gloser, borrowed from Medieval Latin glōsāre, glōssāre, verbal derivative of glōsa, glōssa "commentary on a word or passage, compilation of such commentaries" — more at gloss entry 3