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Added 8 October 2026

glow

/ɡləʊ/ verb

In Latin: luceō, clāricō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about glow at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To emit heat and light without a flame.
Iron glows red hot when heated to near its melting point.
To emit heat and light without a flame.
Iron glows red hot when heated to near its melting point.
Of a fire: to emit heat and light.
The fire was still glowing after ten hours.

noun

A state of heat and light being emitted by a hot object.
A state of heat being emitted by a person or an animal's body.
A state of light being emitted by something (for example, a bioluminescent animal or fungus, or a mineral) which is not hot; luminescence.

verb

To look intently; to stare.

Origin

The verb is derived from Middle English glouen, glowen (“to give off heat and light without flame; of a thing: to be heated until red hot; to be brightly coloured; to shine brightly; (figurative) to be filled with emotion; of the face, etc.: to turn red, flush; etc.”), and then either: * from Old English glōwan (“to glow”) (a strong verb), from Proto-West Germanic *glōan (“to glow”); or * because the Middle English and modern English words are weak verbs, possibly from Old Norse *glówa, thought to be a variant of glóa (“to glow”), also a weak verb; both from Proto-Germanic *glōaną (“to glow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰleh₁- (“to shine, glow; to be shining, glowing”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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