lour

Meaning

Verb

1. To frown; to look sullen.
2. To be dark, gloomy, and threatening, as clouds; of the sky: to be covered with dark and threatening clouds; to show threatening signs of approach, as a tempest.

Noun

1. A frown, a scowl; an angry or sullen look.
2. Of the sky, the weather, etc.: a dark, gloomy, and threatening appearance.

Synonyms

lower

frown

scowl

glower

turn down

darken

decrease

darkness

debouch

decline

depress

dip

discharge

drop

ebb

enumerate

fall

figure

get dark

get down

go down

haze

knock down

let

let down

number

🔢

boil down

posit

pull down

put down

rack

reckon

reduce

set

sluice

tap

threaten

trim down

work out

knit one’s brows

look daggers

defervesce

ebb off

ebb out

numerate

calculate

cipher

come down

compute

count

🔢

cypher

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈlaʊə/

Etymology

The verb is derived from Middle English louren, lour, loure (“to frown or scowl; to be dark or overcast; to droop, fade, wither; to lurk, skulk”), probably from Old English *lūran, *lūrian, from Proto-Germanic *lūraną (“to lie in wait, lurk”).
The English word is cognate with Danish lure (“to lie in ambush; to take a nap”), Middle Dutch loeren (modern Dutch loeren (“to lurk, spy on”)), Middle Low German lûren (“to lie in ambush”), German Low German luren (“to lurk”), Middle High German lūren (“to lie in ambush”) (modern German lauern (“to lie in ambush; to lurk”)), Icelandic lúra (“to take a nap”), Saterland Frisian luurje (“to lie in wait”), West Frisian loere (“to lurk”), and Swedish lura (“to lie in ambush; to deceive, fool, trick; to lure; to take a nap”); and is related to lurk.
The noun is derived from the verb.