Luster
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ÊŒstÉ™(r)
Origin 1
Alternative forms
- lustre (UK/Commonwealth)
From Middle French lustre, from Old Italian lustro, from Latin lustrare ("to brighten"), akin to lux ("light")
Full definition of luster
Noun
luster
(plural lusters)- (US) Alternative spelling of lustre; shine, polish or sparkle.''He polished the brass doorknob to a high luster.
- AddisonThe scorching sun was mounted high,
In all its lustre, to the noonday sky. - By extension, brilliance, attractiveness or splendor.''After so many years in the same field, the job had lost its luster.
- Sir H. WottonHis ancestors continued about four hundred years, rather without obscurity than with any great lustre.
- Refinement, polish or quality.''He spoke with all the lustre a seasoned enthusiast should have.
- A candlestick, chandelier, girandole, etc. generally of an ornamental character.
- A substance that imparts lustre to a surface, such as plumbago or a glaze.
- A fabric of wool and cotton with a lustrous surface, used for women's dresses.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Verb
- (intransitive) To gleam, have luster
- (transitive) To give luster, distinguish
- (transitive) To give a coating or other treatment to impart physical luster
Origin 2
From Latin lustrum, from lustrare, cognate with the above
Noun
luster
(plural lusters)- A lustrum, quinquennium, a period of five years, originally the interval between Roman censuses
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.4.2.ii:Mesue and some other Arabians began to reject and reprehend it; upon whose authority, for many following lusters, it was much debased and quite out of request ....