luster

The ability or condition of shining with reflected light; sheen, gleam, gloss, sparkle, shine, etc.

Noun US, countable

  1. The ability or condition of shining with reflected light; sheen, gleam, gloss, sparkle, shine, etc.
    • metallic luster
    • pearly luster
    • the diamond’s luster

    1. (geology) The way in which the surface of any particular type of mineral reflects light differently from other minerals, which is helpful in telling minerals apart.

      • By the luster or glance of a mineral is meant the quantity and quality of light reflected by it, as determined by the character or minute structure of its surface. […] The two principal kinds of luster are the metallic...
  2. Shining light from within, luminosity, brightness, shine.
    • the sun’s luster
    • the luster of the minor stars
    • […] abashed the devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely, saw, and pined His loss; but chiefly to find here observed His lustre visibly impaired; yet seemed Undaunted. […] -...
  3. Shining beauty, splendor, attractiveness or attraction.
    • How does the Luſtre of our Father’s Actions, Through the dark Cloud of Ills that cover him, Break out, and burn with more triumphant Brightneſs! - 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […]...
    • After so many years in the same field, the job had lost its luster.
    • When Autumn's yellow lustre gilds the world... - 1730, James Thomson, “Autumn”, in Seasons, section 186:
  4. Shining fame, renown, glory.
    • After the scandal, the idol lost his luster and could only get work in Vegas.
    • […] whose ancestors, says Clarendon, had been transported out of Normandy with the Conqueror, "and had continued," says Sir Henry Wotton, "about the space of four hundred years, rather without obscurity than with any...
    • But Main, High, and Central have no past; rather, their past is now. It is not the fault of the inhabitants that nothing has gone before them. Nor are they to be condemned if they make their spinal streets conspicuous,...
  5. Polish, social refinement.
    • Sure, the posh git spoke with fine lustre. ’S all a load of bollocks, though, innit?
  6. A thing exhibiting luster, particularly

    1. (literary) Any shining body or thing.

    2. A piece of glass added to a light (especially a chandelier) to increase its luster.

      • Each mortal has his pleasure: none deny Scarsdale his bottle, Darty his ham-pie; Ridotta sips and dances, till she see The doubling lustres dance as fast as she; - 1735, Alexander Pope, The First Satire of the Second...

    3. An ornamental light providing luster, especially a chandelier.

      • The immense room was carpeted, the walls were covered with eighteenth-century panelling, and three electric lustres hung from the ceiling. - 1905, Thomas Mann, “The Blood of the Walsungs”, in H.T. Lowe-Porter, transl.,...

    4. A substance that imparts luster to a surface, such as polish, gloss, plumbago, glaze, etc.

      • Gabriel coloured as if he felt he had made a mistake and, without looking at her, kicked off his goloshes and flicked actively with his muffler at his patent-leather shoes. […] When he had flicked lustre into his shoes...
      • Chinese themes are equally recognisable in the star-shaped and hexagonal tiles with either moulded relief or lustre-painted decoration, sometimes surrounded by an inscription border […] - 2009, Yuka Kadoi, Islamic...

    5. The layer of an object that imparts luster, chiefly with regard to ceramics.

    6. Clipping of lusterware: highly lustrous ceramics.

      • The whole place was covered with fragments of pottery, mostly very rough, and difficult to identify as to date. Two small lustre shards belong to the ninth or tenth century and a green glaze resembles the output of the...

    7. A kind of lustrous fabric with a wool weft and cotton, linen, or silk warp, chiefly used for women's dresses.

      • Mrs. McLash was dressed for travelling. She wore a black lustre skirt that just exposed her broken button-boots […] - 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter IX, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page...

    8. (obsolete) A glory, an act or thing that imparts fame or renown.

Origin

From Middle French lustre, from Old Italian lustro, from Old Italian lustrare (“brighten”), from Latin lūstrō (“to purify, to brighten”), from Latin lūstrum (“purification ritual”).

Forms

lusters lustre

Antonyms

dullness

Related

illustrate illustration illustrious lustral lustrate lustration lustrical lustrific lustrification lustrine lustrum perlustrate

Derived

deluster lackluster luster bowl luster china luster fabric luster fleece lusterful luster goods luster jug lusterless lustermaker lusterment luster mottling luster mug luster process luster teapot luster tile luster trade lusterware luster wool lustery lustrify lustrious lustriously

Noun US, alt of

  1. Alternative form of lustrum: A five-year period, especially (historical) in Roman contexts.
    • ...thritty yere of vj. lustres... - 1387, Ranulph Higden, translated by John de Trevisa, Polychronicon, volume VIII, page 29:
    • 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 […]. - 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton],...

Origin

From Middle English lustre, from Latin lustrum, from Old Latin *loustrom, of uncertain origin. More at lustrum.

Forms

lusters lustre

Noun US, archaic

  1. One who lusts, one inflamed with lust.
    • Eumenides But did neuer any Louers come hether? - 1591, John Lyly, Endimion, sig. E4v
    • ...a luster after power... - 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, volume III, page 124:
    • 1867–1872, Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Testimonies against the Jews Neither fornicators, nor those who serve idols, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor the lusters after mankind […] shall obtain the kingdom of God.

Origin

Etymology tree English lust Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English luster From lust + -er.

Forms

lusters

Noun US, obsolete

  1. Synonym of den: a dwelling-place in a wilderness, especially for animals.
    • ...But, turning to his luster, Calues and Dam, He shewes abhorr'd death, in his angers flame... - c. 1615, Homer, translated by George Chapman, Odysses, 2nd edition, page 159:

    Synonyms: den

Origin

From Latin lustra (“wilds, woods”).

Forms

lusters lustre

Verb

  1. To have luster, to gleam, to shine.
    • What bloom, what brightness lusters o’er her cheeks! - 1729, Richard Savage, The Wanderer, Sect. iii, l. 326
  2. To gain luster, to become lustrous.
  3. To give luster, particularly
    • Our Puritans have from hence learned to colour and lustre their ugly Treasons... with the cloake of Religion. - 1644, John Maxwell, Sacro-Sancta Regum Majestas, page 17:

    1. (obsolete) To make illustrious or attractive, to distinguish.

    2. To coat with a lustrous material or glaze, to impart physical luster to an object.

      • Peter and Mania found a pensione whose view was of chestnut woods and a horizon looped by peaks lustred with last winter’s snow, distant in time as well as space. - 1985, Nadine Gordimer, “Sins of the Third Age”, in...
  4. To shed light on, to illustrate, to show.
  5. Synonym of lustrate, particularly

    Synonyms: purify to ritually cleanse or renew

    1. Synonym of purify, to ritually cleanse or renew.

    2. Synonym of look, to look over, to survey.

      Synonyms: look to look over to survey

Forms

lusters lustering lustered lustre

Synonyms

lustrate

Derived

lustered lustering