1. The property of being smooth and shiny
   "The gloss of the magazine cover caught the eye";
   - polish, glossiness, burnish
    
2. An explanation or definition of an obscure word in a text
   "The medieval manuscript included glosses in the margins to explain difficult terms";
   - rubric
    
3. An alphabetical list of technical terms in some specialized field of knowledge; usually published as an appendix to a text on that field
   "He appended a gloss to his novel where he used an invented language";
   - glossary
    
4. An outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading
   "he tried to give his falsehood the gloss of moral sanction";
   - semblance, color [US], colour [Brit, Cdn]

1. Give a shine or gloss to, usually by rubbing
   "She glossed her lips with a new lipstick"
    
2. Provide interlinear explanations for words or phrases
   "The teacher glossed the difficult Latin passages for her students";
   - comment, annotate
    
3. Give a deceptive explanation or excuse for
   "He tried to gloss over his mistakes";
   - color [US], colour [Brit, Cdn]

Derived forms: glosses, glossing, glossed

See also: gloss over, whitewash

Type of: account, appearance, effulgence, excuse, explanation, interpret, polish, radiance, radiancy, rationalise [Brit], rationalize, rede [archaic], refulgence, refulgency, shine, smooth, smoothen, smoothness, visual aspect, wordbook

Encyclopedia: Gloss