different between gloaming vs smokefall

English

Etymology

From a dialectal variant of glooming, from Middle English *gloming, from Old English gl?mung, from Old English gl?m (“twilight”); synchronically gloom +? -ing. Related to glow.

The OED notes: "The vowel of the modern gloaming is anomalous, as Old English gl?mung should normally become glooming. The explanation is probably that the ? was shortened in the compound ?fen-glommung (as the spelling seems to show was actually the case), and that from this compound there was evolved a new subject gl?mung, which by normal phonetic development became Middle English gl?ming, modern English gloaming."

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??l??.m??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??lo?.m??/
• Rhymes: -??m??

Noun

gloaming (plural gloamings)

1. (poetry, Scotland, Northern England) Twilight, as at early morning (dawn) or (especially) early evening; dusk.

   Synonyms: crepuscule, glooming, vespers; see also Thesaurus:twilight

   Antonyms: daytime, daylight, nighttime, darkness
2. (obsolete) Sullenness; melancholy.

   Synonyms: crepuscule, glooming, misery, sadness, sorrow, woe

Translations

Verb

gloaming

1. present participle of gloam

References

English

Etymology

From smoke +? fall

Noun

smokefall (uncountable)

1. The close of the day before nightfall, when fog comes.
   • 1935: T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, "Burnt Norton" (possible neologism)

     The moment in the draughty church at smokefall

2. The soot fallout from a cloud of smoke.
   • 1985: T.S. Ledley and S.L. Thompson, Potential effect of nuclear war smokefall on sea ice (apparent neologism)

     The largest sea ice perturbations are generated by smokefall in spring.

3. An artificial waterfall of smoke for shows.

Translations

See also

• crepuscule
• dusk
• evenfall
• fogfall
• gloaming
• nightfall
• soot fallout
• sunset
• twilight