Lour
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈlaʊə/, /ˈlaʊ.ə/
- US IPA: /ˈlaʊɚ/, /ˈlaʊ.ɚ/
- Rhymes: -aʊə(ɹ), -aʊ.ə(ɹ)
Origin
From Middle English lour ("sad or frowning countenance"), louren ("to frown or scowl; to be dark or overcast; look askant, mistrust; wither, fade, droop; lurk, skulk"), Old English lowren, luren. Compare Dutch loeren, German lauern ("lurk, be on the watch"), and English leer and lurk.
Alternative forms
Full definition of lour
Verb
- (intransitive) To be dark, gloomy, and threatening, as clouds; to be covered with dark and threatening clouds, as the sky; to show threatening signs of approach, as a tempest.
- 1623 1593, William Shakespeare, (First Folio), act I, scene iAnd all the clouds that lowr'd vpon our houſe
- 1922, A. E. Housman, , IX, lines 21-22If here to-day the cloud of thunder loursTo-morrow it will hie on far behests;
- 1891 , Euripides , The Phoenissae , Seek to be prosperous; once let fortune lour, and the aid supplied by friends is naught.
- 1818 , Mary Shelley , Frankenstein Chapter Six , The sun might shine, or the clouds might lour; but nothing could appear to me as it had done the day before.
- 1922, A. E. Housman, , IX, lines 21-22If here to-day the cloud of thunder loursTo-morrow it will hie on far behests;
- Gordon Brown Meets the Ten Year Olds , … the appalling burden of public service inflation-proof pensions that will lour over our children and grandchildren.
- (intransitive) To frown; to look sullen.
- unknown date John Dryden:But sullen discontent sat lowering on her face.