▪ I. gloom, n.1
(gluːm)
Also 6–7 Sc. gloume, glowme, 7 gloome.
[In sense 1 f. gloom v.; in senses 2–3 perh. back-formation from gloomy; app. unconnected with OE. glóm twilight (see gloaming).
In the sense of ‘darkness’ the word may possibly be a new formation by Milton; it occurs 9 times in his poems, but our material contains no other examples earlier than the 18th c.]
1. (Only Sc.) A sullen look, frown, scowl. ? Obs.
| 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. x. 462 Bosting the pane confirmet be the edict with a gloume inttollerable. 1629 Z. Boyd Last Battell i. 4 Nowe Gods glowmes..make heart and soule to melt. 1636 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 184, I trust in God not to call His glooms unkind again. 1720 Ramsay Rise & Fall of Stocks 75 The miser hears him with a gloom, Girns like a brock and bites his thumb. a 1800 in Scott Minstr. Scot. Bord. (1803) III. 16 But sick a gloom, on ae brow-head, Grant I ne'er see agane! |
2. An indefinite degree of darkness or obscurity, the result of night, clouds, deep shadow, etc. Sometimes pl.
Originally poet., and still somewhat rhetorical in use. By association with the fig. sense 3, the word has latterly tended to denote a painful or depressing darkness, though instances of the wider (Miltonic) use are not wanting in recent poetry.
| 1629 Milton Christ's Nativity 77 Though the shady gloom Had given day her room, The Sun himself withheld his wonted speed. 1667 ― P.L. i. 244 Is..this the seat That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom For that celestial light? 1717 Pope Eloisa 38 Now warm in love, now with'ring in my bloom, Lost in a convent's solitary gloom! 1726–46 Thomson Winter 58 Thus Winter falls A heavy gloom oppressive o'er the world. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 278 An hour..spent in parlour twilight; such a gloom Well suits the thoughtful..mind. 1832 W. Irving Alhambra II. 258 He heard the tramp of hoofs, and, through the gloom of the overshadowing trees, imperfectly beheld a steed descending the avenue. 1855 Browning Childe Roland xix, A sudden little river crossed my path..No sluggish tide congenial to the glooms. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola ii. xxvi, A gloom unbroken except by a lamp burning feebly here and there. 1882 Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. i. x. 124 With a few steps he would have been lost in the gloom of the cathedral. |
b. A deeply shaded or darkened place.
| 1706 Addison Rosamond i. ii, Your Highness..Has chose the most convenient Gloom; There's not a Place in all the Park Has Trees so thick, and Shades so dark. 1747 Collins Passions 64 Through glades and glooms the mingled measure stole. 1832 Tennyson Pal. Art xiv, Full of long sounding corridors it was That overvaulted grateful glooms. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiii. 32 Cometh on Taborine behind him, Attis, thoro' leafy glooms a guide. |
† c. Twilight. [Possibly another word, connected with gloaming.] Obs.—1
| a 1699 A. Halkett Autobiog. (1875) 10 He..had rod up and downe that part of the country only till itt was y⊇ gloome of y⊇ evening to have the more privacy in comming to see mee. |
3. A state of melancholy or depression; a sad or despondent look. Also in pl. fits of melancholy.
| 1744 Harris Three Treat. iii. (1765) 183 The Face of Nature, said he, will perhaps dispel these Glooms. 1773 N. Frowde Life, etc. 139, I recovered, and grew calm; but bore a settled Gloom in my Mind and Countenance. 1786 W. Thomson Watson's Philip III, vi. (1839) 349 A comet..aggravated the general gloom; and the minds of men were agitated at once by the alarms of war, and a superstitious terror. c 1808 Mary Lamb to Mrs. Hazlitt in Talfourd Final Mem. Lamb v. (1848) I. 160 Hazlitt..was a more useful one..when he dropt in after a fit of the glooms. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxii, The uncertainty of the morrow cast a gloom upon him. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg., Misadv. Margate, The gloom upon your youthful cheek speaks anything but joy. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §8. 445 No outer triumph could break the gloom which gathered round the dying Queen. 1879 Geo. Eliot Coll. Breakf. P. 598 The sick morning glooms of debauchees. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as gloom-bird, gloom-gladdener; gloom-bound, gloom-buried, gloom-enamoured, gloom-laden, gloom-roaming ppl. adjs.
| 1820 Keats Hyperion i. 171 Or *gloom-bird's hated screech. |
| 1863 P. S. Worsley Poems & Transl. 18 Some *gloom-bound cell Under the level of a stormy lake. |
| 1853 M. Arnold Mod. Sappho vii, [He] Looks languidly round on a *gloom-buried world. |
| a 1784 Johnson Parody Medea Wks. (1816) I. 353 Where *gloom-enamour'd Mischief loves to dwell. |
| 1833 Blackw. Mag. XXXIV. 961 Delicate thy harp-touch, our own Dora, the *gloom-gladdener. |
| a 1847 Eliza Cook Song Old Year iii, Ye have murmur'd of late at my *gloom-laden hours. |
| 1848 Secret Soc., Tribunals 373 Like the Nemesis, or the ‘*gloom-roaming’ Erinnys, of antiquity. |
Add: [3.] b. Colloq. phr. gloom and doom (also doom and gloom): (an expression of) pessimism or despondency about the future; a depressing prospect, esp. in political or financial affairs. Also used attrib. to designate writing, etc., of a pessimistic nature. orig. U.S.
| 1947 Harburg & Saidy Finian's Rainbow i. ii. 32 Doom and gloom... D-o-o-m and gl-o-o-m! Ibid. ii. iv. 131, I told you that gold could only bring you doom and gloom, gloom and doom. 1964 America CX. 224/3 ‘Aha!’ said the new prophets of doom and gloom.., ‘there you are—obstruction, foot-dragging, dirty pool in committee!’ 1971 Brit. Printer Dec. 47/2 His ‘doom and gloom’ story in the Yorkshire Post paid off. 1973 Advocate-News (Barbados) 25 Dec. 11/8 He doesn't notice a feeling among his Republican colleagues of ‘gloom and doom’ about their reelection chances. 1983 Times 8 Mar. 3/4 ‘Doom and gloom’ reports recently had been unwarranted. 1986 Scotsman 16 June 5 All is not gloom and doom at the Royal Scottish National Hospital. |
▪ II. gloom, n.2
Also 6 glome.
[Possibly, in spite of the chronological gap, repr. OE. glóm, in its unrecorded primary sense: see gloaming.]
† 1. hot gloom, excessive heat (of the sun). (Cf. gleam n. 1 c.) Obs.
| 1577 Hellowes Gueuara's Chron. 289 The sunne did shine with as hote a glome as in y⊇ heate of summer. 1633 T. James Voy. 77 We haue such hot gloomes, that we cannot endure in the Sunne. 1759 tr. Duhamel's Husb. i. xiv. (1762) 74 Hot glooms which mildew the corn. |
2. Comb. in gloom-stove (also gloom simply), a variety of drying-oven used in the manufacture of gunpowder.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 629 Gunpowder..dried..by radiation from red-hot iron, as in the gloom stove. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Gloom-stove, Formerly for drying powder..steam-pipes are now substituted. |
▪ III. gloom, v.1
(gluːm)
Forms: 4 gloumbe, glowmbe, 5–6 gloum, 6 glowm(e, 6–7 gloome, 6– gloom. See also glum v.
[ME. gloum(b)e (*glūme-n:—OE. *gl{uacu}mian) = MG. (13th c.) glûmen, ? to be savage (in ein glûmender hunt a savage dog); cf. MG. (14th c.) beglûmen, ? to defraud, LG. glûm muddiness, fraudulent conduct, glum muddy, turbid (adopted by Luther, Ezek. xxxii. 2), glummen, gläumen to make turbid, MDu. gloom (gloym) adj. foggy, whence glomich foggy. The OE. glóm, twilight (whence gloaming), is app. not etymologically cognate, as it belongs to a different ablaut-series.
With the representation of ME. gloum(b)e by mod.Eng. gloom, cf. ME. roum (OE. r{uacu}m), mod.Eng. room. The variant glum v. is parallel with mod.Eng. thumb from OE. þ{uacu}ma, ME. thoum(b)e.]
1. intr. To look sullen or displeased; to frown, scowl, lower; also to gloom on or at (a person). In recent use also (through influence of gloomy): To look dismal or dejected, to wear an air of sombre melancholy; to be gloomy.
| α 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 94 ‘Our syre syttes’, he [Jonah] says, ‘on sege so hyȝe..& gloumbes ful lyttel, Þaȝ I be nummen in Niniuie & naked dispoyled. c 1400 Rom. Rose 4356 Fortune.. whilom wole on folk smyle, And glowmbe on hem another while. 1515 Barclay Egloges iv. (1570) C v/1 Assoone as clerkes begin to talke and chat, Some other glowmes and hath envy thereat. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 415 O fekill Fortune..With busteous brows glowmand on hir brie. a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. iv. Wks. (1848) II. 358 Sche glowmed boyth at the messenger and at the requeast, and skarselie wold geve a good worde or blyth countenance to any [etc.]. 1628 Rutherford Let. to Chr. Gentlewoman 23 Apr., That long loan..deserveth more thanks..then that ye should gloom and murmure when He craveth but his own. 1697 Congreve Mourn. Bride i. vi, What's he, who with contracted Brow, And sullen Port, glooms downward with his Eyes? 1720 Mrs. Manley Power Love (1741) I. 76 He gloomed from beneath his Eyes, bit his Lips [etc.]. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1729) 16, I wat on him she did na gloom, But blinkit bonnilie. 1831 Fraser's Mag. II. 699 Some gloomed upon him; others pitied the tall and gallant fellow. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair l, Her father, sitting glooming in his place at the other end of the table. 1860 Froude Hist. Eng. VI. 94 The Stanleys, Howards, Talbots, and Nevilles were glooming apart, indignant at the neglect of their own claims. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 390 But whoso gloomed at tidings men might show, It was not Kiartan. 1881 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton My Love III. 36 She was glooming over her daughter's prolonged absence, and fearing she scarcely knew what. 1883 Century Mag. XXV. 891/2, I hate myself for glooming about the house in secret. 1967 ‘A. Garve’ Very Quiet Place i. iv. 59 ‘What did you do?’ ‘Gloomed for a week—then started to write it again.’ 1968 H. Franklin Crash vi. 77, I sat and gloomed in the hotel lounge. |
| quasi-trans. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. iii. v. I. 171 They..gloomed unutterable things on George and his Speech. 1865 Ibid. xiv. vi. V. 226 ‘What interloping fellow is this?’ gloomed Valori. |
2. a. Of the weather, the sky, etc.: To lower, look dark or threatening; to be or to become dull and cloudy. Also fig.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 4142 Þe wedire gloumes. 1535 Coverdale Matt. xvi. 3 It wil be foule wedder to daye for the szkye is reed & gloometh. 1639 R. Baillie Lett. (1775) I. 91 Storms are likely to arise in that flat air of England, which long has been glooming. 1780 Burke Sp. at Bristol Wks. 1842 I. 265 You remember the cloud that gloomed over us all. 1795 Cicely I. 114 The day gloomed, the wind whistled cold thro' the almost leafless trees. 1846 Hawthorne Mosses i. i. 16 The sky gloomed through the dusty garret windows. a 1861 T. Woolner My Beautiful Lady (1863) 135 Long toil-devoted years have gloomed and shone Since these events closed up my doors of life. |
b. = gloam v.
| 1595 Spenser Epithal. xvi, Ah when will this long weary day have end. Long though it be, at last I see it gloome. 1819 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1857) I. 232 We left Bromley..as the evening began to gloom. 1858 G. Macdonald Phantastes iii. (1878) 28 In the midst of the forest it gloomed earlier than in the open country. |
3. To have a dark or sombre appearance; to appear as a dark object.
| 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 318 The black gibbet glooms beside the way. 1790 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Rowland for Oliver Wks. 1812 II. 307 Alas! what dangers gloom'd of late around. 1813 Byron Br. Abydos ii. xxviii, While dark above The sad but living cypress glooms. 1836 Lytton Athens (1837) I. 470 Mount Parthenius amidst whose wild recesses gloomed the antique grove dedicated to Telephus. 1850 Mrs. Browning Sonn. fr. Portuguese xix, The dim purpureal tresses gloomed athwart The nine white Muse-brows. 1879 Dowden Southey vi. 188 Skiddaw gloomed solemnly overhead. |
4. a. trans. To make dark or sombre; to cover with gloom; † to give a scowling or sullen look to (the countenance).
| 1576 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. iii. 10 in Holinshed, You should neuer marck him or his bedfellowe..bende their browes, or gloome their countenaunces, or make a sower face at anie guest. a 1592 Greene Philomela (1615) C 3 b, Frosty Winter thus had gloomed Each fayre thing that sommer bloomed. 1742 Young Nt.-Th. ii. 358 A night, that glooms us in the noon-tide ray, And wraps our thought, at banquets, in the shroud. 1753 H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann ccxlvii. (1834) III. 44 A bow-window..gloomed with limes that shade half each window. 1842 Tennyson Letters 2 A black yew gloom'd the stagnant air. 1851 Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi W. 65 One temple, with its floors Of shining jasper, gloom'd at morn and eve By countless knees of earnest auditors. |
b. fig. To make dark, dismal, or melancholy.
| 1745 Thomson Tancred & Sigis. ii. i, We meet to-day with open hearts and looks, Not gloomed by party, scowling on each other. 1795 Char. in Ann. Reg. 23* The neighbouring territory..is impoverished and gloomed by the dominion of ecclesiastics. 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. xxxvi. 33 Her swamps and everglades gloom the thoughts of the wary traveller. 1859 Tennyson Vivien 323 Such a mood as that, which lately gloom'd Your fancy when you saw me following you. 1873 Symonds in Biog. (1895) II. 83 The boredom of this delay at Trapani has, I dare say, gloomed my views of the outer world. |
Hence gloomed ppl. a., rendered dark or dismal.
| 1830 Tennyson Poems 36 Would that my gloomed fancy were As thine, my mother [etc.]. |
▪ IV. † gloom, v.2 Obs.
Also 5 glome.
[cf. gloom n.2]
intr. To glow.
| c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xxxi. (Thornton MS.), His gambesouns glomede [v.r. glowed] als gledys. 1579–1881 [see glooming ppl. a.2]. |