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Origin and history of lour

lour(v.)

"to frown," late 13c. variant of lower (v.2). Related: Loured; louring.

also from late 13c.

Entries linking to lour

lower(v.2)

"to look dark and menacing," also lour, from Middle English louren, luren "to frown, scowl" (early 13c.), "to lurk" (mid-15c.), from Old English *luran or from its cognates, Middle Low German luren, Middle Dutch loeren "lie in wait." The form perhaps has been assimilated to lower (v.1). Related: Lowered; lowering.

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    Trends of lour

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    frown
    "contract the brows as an expression of displeasure," late 14c., from Old French frognier "to frown or scowl, snort, turn up one's nose" (preserved in Modern French refrogner), related to froigne "scowling look," probably from Gaulish *frogna "nostril" (compare Welsh ffroen "nose
    glower
    mid-14c., "to shine;" c. 1500, "to stare with wide eyes," perhaps from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian dialectal glora "to glow, gleam; stare"), or related to Middle Dutch gluren "to leer;" in either case from Proto-Germanic *glo- (see glow (v.)), root of Old English glo
    decrease
    early 15c., decresen (intransitive) "become less, be diminished gradually," from Anglo-French decreiss-, present-participle stem of decreistre, Old French descroistre (12c., Modern French décroître), from Latin decrescere "to grow less, diminish," from de "away from" (see de-) +
    scowl
    "lower the brows, as in anger or displeasure, put on a frowning look," c. 1400, scoulen, probably from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian skule "look furtively, squint, look embarrassed," Danish skule "to scowl, cast down the eyes"). According to Klein's sources, this is pr
    subdue
    late 14c., subduen, "to conquer (an army, a people, a land) and reduce to subjection," from Old French souduire (but this meant "deceive, seduce"), from Latin subducere "draw away, lead away, carry off; withdraw" (see subduce; also compare subduct). The primary sense in English s
    subordinate
    mid-15c., subordinat, "having an inferior rank, arranged so that it is dependent on another," from Medieval Latin subordinatus "placed in a lower order, made subject," past participle of subordinare "place in a lower order," from Latin sub "under" (see sub-) + ordinare "arrange,
    turn
    late Old English turnian "to rotate, revolve," in part also from Old French torner "to turn away or around; draw aside, cause to turn; change, transform; turn on a lathe" (Modern French tourner), both from Latin tornare "to polish, round off, fashion, turn on a lathe," from tornu
    down
    "in a descending direction, from a higher to a lower place, degree, or condition," late Old English shortened form of Old English ofdune "downwards," originally of dune "off from (the) hill," from dune "from the hill," dative of dun "hill" (see down (n.2)). The "hill" word is gen
    symposium
    "convivial meeting for drinking, conversation, and intellectual stimulation," 1711, from Latin symposium "drinking party, symposium," from Greek symposion "drinking party, convivial gathering of the educated" (related to sympotēs "drinking companion"), from assimilated form of sy
    precept
    "commandment or direction given as a rule of action," especially "an injunction as to moral conduct," late 14c., from Old French percept, percet (12c.) and directly from Latin praeceptum "maxim, rule of conduct, order," noun use of neuter past participle of praecipere "give rules

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