Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Gloom?

\Gloom\ (gl[=oo]m), n. [AS. gl[=o]m twilight, from the root of E. glow. See {Glow}, and cf. {Glum}, {Gloam}.] 1. Partial or total darkness; thick shade; obscurity; as, the gloom of a forest, or of midnight. 2. A shady, gloomy, or dark place or grove. Before a gloom of stubborn-shafted oaks. --Tennyson . 3. Cloudiness or heaviness of mind; melancholy; aspect of sorrow; low spirits; dullness. A sullen gloom and furious disorder prevailed by fits. --Burke. 4. In gunpowder manufacture, the drying oven. Syn: Darkness; dimness; obscurity; heaviness; dullness; depression; melancholy; dejection; sadness. See {Darkness}.
\Gloom\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Gloomed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Glooming}.] 1. To shine or appear obscurely or imperfectly; to glimmer. 2. To become dark or dim; to be or appear dismal, gloomy, or sad; to come to the evening twilight. The black gibbet glooms beside the way. --Goldsmith. [This weary day] . . . at last I see it gloom. --Spenser.
\Gloom\, v. t. 1. To render gloomy or dark; to obscure; to darken. A bow window . . . gloomed with limes. --Walpole. A black yew gloomed the stagnant air. --Tennyson. 2. To fill with gloom; to make sad, dismal, or sullen. Such a mood as that which lately gloomed Your fancy. --Tennison. What sorrows gloomed that parting day. --Goldsmith.