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.
Meanings
A frown, a scowl; an angry or sullen look.
I have ſuch averſion to ill temper, that I could ſooner forgive my wife adultery, than croſſneſs. I cannot taſte Caſſio's kiſs on her lips; but I can ſee a lour on her brow. 1798, attributed to Richard Griffith or Laurence Sterne, The Koran: Or, Essays, Sentiments, Characters, and Callimachies, of Tria Juncta in Uno, M.N.A. or Master of No Arts. Three Volumes Complete in One, volume II, Vienna: Printed for R[udolf] Sammer, bookseller, →OCLC, paragraph 49, page 156:
(figuratively) Of the sky, the weather, etc.: a dark, gloomy, and threatening appearance.
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.
Meanings
(intransitive) To frown; to look sullen.
And solace sought he none from priest nor leech, / And soon the same in movement and in speech, / As heretofore he fill'd the passing hours, / Nor less he smiles, nor more his forehead lours / Than these were wont; [...] 1814, [Lord Byron], “[Lara, a Tale.] Canto I.”, in Lara, a Tale. Jacqueline, a Tale, London: […] [F]or J[ohn] Murray, […], [b]y T[homas] Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XV, pages 20–21, lines 251–255:
[...] Juno took her place:
But ſullen Diſcontent ſat lowring on her Face. 1700, [John] Dryden, “Homer’s Ilias”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, book I, page 215:
Their lank black hair hung round their black visages; and the only points of relief in the wild countenance which loured from under their strange head-dresses, were the dark, piercing eyes, and the white teeth. 1840 May, “Art. V.—Travels in Koordistan and Mesopotamia. By Ja[me]s Baillie Fraser. London: 1840.”, in The Dublin Review, volume VIII, number XVI, London: C[harles] Dolman, […] (Nephew and successor to J. Booker.) […], →OCLC, page 432:
(figuratively, intransitive) 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.
The sun might shine, or the clouds might lour; but nothing could appear to me as it had done the day before. 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VI, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 125:
Now is the winter of our diſcontent,
Made glorious ſummer by this ſonne of Yorke:
And all the cloudes that lowrd vpon our houſe,
In the deepe boſome of the Ocean buried. c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
Weather in Auguſt, 1787. [...] dark, louring, cool, briſk ſhower. 1788 July, “Meteorological Diaries for July, 1788; and for August, 1787”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XXV, London: Printed by John Nichols, for D. Henry, […], published January 1755, →OCLC, page 570:
And still when loudliest howls the storm, / And darkliest lowers his native sky, / The king's fierce soul is in that form, / The warrior's spirit threatens nigh! 1846, R[obert] S[tephen] Hawker, “The Wreck”, in Echoes from Old Cornwall, London: Joseph Masters, […], →OCLC, stanza X, page 76:
Seek to be prosperous; once let fortune lour, and the aid supplied by friends is naught. 1891, Euripides, “The Phœnician Maidens”, in Edward P[hilip] Coleridge, transl., The Plays of Euripides: Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley (Bohn’s Classical Library), volume II, London: George Bell & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 230:
If here to-day the cloud of thunder lours / To-morrow it will hie on far behests; [...] 1922 October, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] IX”, in Last Poems, London: Grant Richards Ltd., →OCLC, stanza 6, page 25, lines 21–22:
And with them comes a third of Regal port, / But faded ſplendor wan; who by his gate / And fierce demeanour ſeems the Prince of Hell, / Not likely to part hence without conteſt; / Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours. 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 870–874:
The queen's letter coming up to the duchess's own ideas of her own deserts, she condescended to speak on the subject which had caused such portentous blackness to lour on her countenance, on her first meeting her royal mistress. 1873, Agnes Strickland, chapter VIII, in Lives of the Queens of England, from the Norman Conquest. … In Six Volumes, new revised and augmented edition, volume VI, London: Bell & Daldy, […], →OCLC, page 285:
The Dawn is over-caſt, the Morning low’rs,
And heavily in Clouds brings on the Day, […] 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:
cs zamračit se (to frown; to look sullen) · cs zachmuřit se (to frown; to look sullen) · cs kabonit se (to frown; to look sullen) · fi uhata (to be dark, gloomy, and threatening, as clouds) · cs chmuřit se (to frown; to look sullen) · cs mračit se (to be dark, gloomy, and threatening, as clouds) · cs mračit se (to frown; to look sullen) · cs kabonit se (to be dark, gloomy, and threatening, as clouds) · fi murjottaa (to frown; to look sullen)