Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Exciting or mysterious attractiveness usually associated with striking physical beauty, luxury, or celebrity.
  • noun Archaic Magic cast by a spell; enchantment.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To charm; bewitch.
  • noun Enchantment; a supposed influence of a charm on the eye, causing it to see objects under an unreal semblance; hence, anything that obscures or deceives vision, physical or mental; fascination; charm; witchery. Compare gramary (originally the same word).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A charm affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are.
  • noun Witchcraft; magic; a spell.
  • noun A kind of haze in the air, causing things to appear different from what they really are.
  • noun Any artificial interest in, or association with, an object, through which it appears delusively magnified or glorified.
  • noun the gift or power of producing a glamour. The former is used figuratively, of the gift of fascination peculiar to women.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun countable an item, motif, person, image that by association improves appearance
  • noun Witchcraft; magic charm; a spell affecting the eye, making objects appear different from what they really are.
  • noun A kind of haze in the air, causing things to appear different from what they really are.
  • noun Any artificial interest in, or association with, an object, or person, through which it or they appear delusively magnified or glorified.
  • noun uncountable Alluring beauty or charm (often with sex-appeal)

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun alluring beauty or charm (often with sex-appeal)
  • verb cast a spell over someone or something; put a hex on someone or something

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Scots, magic spell, alteration of grammar (from the association of learning with magic).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Scots gramarye ("magic, enchantment, spell").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word glamour.

Examples

  • Even the word glamour has magic roots, as a charm cast to transform appearances.

    NYT > Home Page By ASHLEY MEARS 2011

  • Berry is a vocal critic of what he calls the glamour of newness, ease, and affluence; and a champion of distraction.

    MY EMPIRE OF DIRT Manny Howard 2010

  • Berry is a vocal critic of what he calls the glamour of newness, ease, and affluence; and a champion of distraction.

    MY EMPIRE OF DIRT Manny Howard 2010

  • Berry is a vocal critic of what he calls the glamour of newness, ease, and affluence; and a champion of distraction.

    MY EMPIRE OF DIRT Manny Howard 2010

  • Berry is a vocal critic of what he calls the glamour of newness, ease, and affluence; and a champion of distraction.

    MY EMPIRE OF DIRT Manny Howard 2010

  • It is what you call a glamour, an interlude of witchcraft.

    South Wind Norman Douglas 1910

  • "That's not work, that's what we call the glamour gig," he laughs of his too-brief time on the set of Hellboy 2.

    WalesOnline - Home 2009

  • But the emblem of Indian glamour is in the throes of a comeback, and these women had come to the DLF Emporio mall to attend "sari school."

    Reinvention of the sari brings a comeback on catwalks, at cocktail parties Emily Wax 2010

  • Both book and film stripped the glamour from the mafia and revealed its protagonists for what they were: ruthless, banal, sociopathic thugs far removed from elegant, Godfatherly sophistication and singing in a very different choir from the Sopranos.

    Beauty and the Inferno by Roberto Saviano – Review Duncan Campbell 2010

  • In the documentary, more glamour is added when the lanky model, Hilary Rhoda of Chevy Chase, Md., wears the precious stone in the new setting.

    Hope Diamond gets a Hollywood voice Jacqueline Trescott 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • (n.)a physical illusion created by magic

    February 7, 2008

  • glamour

    In his book It, Stephen King uses the word "glamour" in reference to the creature known as "It" or "Pennywise", saying that it means a creature able either truly to change its shape and/or physical appearance at will, or to be seen as different things by different people.

    September 27, 2008

  • Virginia Postrel: The power of glamour

    October 18, 2008