lustre

See also: lustré

English

It has been requested that this entry be merged with luster(+).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlʌstə/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌstə

Etymology 1

From Middle French lustre. See luster (etymology 1).

Noun

lustre (countable and uncountable, plural lustres)

1. (British spelling) Alternative form of luster (shine, etc.)
2. (geology) The way in which the surface of any particular type of mineral reflects light differently from other minerals, which is helpful in telling minerals apart.

   Various kinds of minerals differ in their lustre; iron pyrites are described as having a metallic lustre, glassy materials a vitreous lustre; others, such as opal, look resinous, and the lustres of yet others are described as being either pearly, or silky, or dull, like earth.

3. A glass ornament such as a prism or cut glass dangling beneath a chandelier; usually in clusters or festoons.
   • 2013, Shena Mackay, Redhill Rococo, →ISBN:

     ...he went out through the unfamiliar hall, setting the chandelier clashing its dusty lustres with his hand, leaving a prismatic jangle behind him in the empty house.

5. (dated) A chandelier, particularly one decorated with glass lustres.
   • 1838, John Henry Brady, A new pocket guide to London and its environs‎:

     In the centre is painted an eagle, from whose beak an elegant glass lustre chandelier is suspended. There are also ten smaller chandeliers in different parts of the room.

   • 1889, anonymous author, The Journal of Gas Lighting, Water Supply & Sanitary Improvement‎:

     On the ground floor, the library (a room in carved oak) is lighted by a lustre composed of twelve regenerative burners enclosed in tinted glasses.

Antonyms

• dullness
• lacklustre

Derived terms

• lustreware

Related terms

• lustrous

Translations

luster — see luster

Verb

lustre (third-person singular simple present lustres, present participle lustring, simple past and past participle lustred)

1. (British spelling) Alternative form of luster

Translations

luster — see luster

Etymology 2

From Middle English lustre, from Latin lustrum, from Old Latin *loustrom, of uncertain origin. More at lustrum.

Noun

lustre (plural lustres)

1. (British spelling) Alternative form of luster: A 5-year period, especially (historical) in Roman contexts.

Etymology 3

From Latin lustra (“wilds, woods”), thought to derive from unattested *dustrum, from unattested Ancient Greek *δύστρον (*dústron, “place animals wallow”), from δύω (dúō, “to plunge, to wallow”).

Noun

lustre (plural lustres)

1. (British spelling, obsolete) Alternative form of luster: a den, a dwelling-place in a wilderness, especially for animals.

References

• “lustre”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Luster, Ulster, lurest, luster, luters, result, rulest, rustle, sutler, truels, ulster

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lustrum. Doublet of llustre and llostre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈlus.tɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈlus.tɾe]

Noun

lustre m (plural lustres)

1. lustrum (period of five years)

Related terms

• llustre

Further reading

• “lustre”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April