gloss

Pronounced: glahs, verb

Notes: I know the phrase “gloss over” and the noun “gloss”, but not the verb

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Yesterday’s word

The word prow means, as a noun

• the front of ship or boat above the water; the bow
• the projecting front part of something (as a building)

As an adjective, it means “valiant”

First usage

The noun came into English in the mid-1500s; the adjective came into English in the mid-1300s

Background / Comments

The adjectival meaning was completely new to me; as noted above, it is older – it came from the Middle French word prou, which came from the Old English prud. The noun form came from the Middle French word proue, which came from the Old Italian dialect prua, which came from the Latin word prora.