Glam

How to spell glam

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce glam

What does glam mean?

1. adjectiveExcitingly attractive in a stylish, showy way; glamorous.
2. nounStylish, exciting glamour or showy attractiveness.
3. verbTo make someone or something look more glamorous, usually used with 'up'.

Glam in a sentence

• adjective

  The hotel rooftop bar had a seriously glam atmosphere.

• noun

  The old theatre still has plenty of vintage glam.

• verb

  A few accessories can really glam up a plain outfit.

• adjective

  She wore a glam sequinned dress to the awards dinner.

• noun

  Her makeup tutorials add instant glam to an everyday look.

• verb

  The stylist worked hard to glam up the tired old set.

Where does glam come from?

Language of origin: Other

This is a twentieth-century clipping of glamour, and the longer word has one of the most surprising back-stories in English. Glamour began life in Scots as an altered spelling of grammar, which in the Middle Ages did not just mean the rules of language but stood for learning in general, and especially the occult learning associated with scholars. A grammar in this older sense (also spelled gramarye) carried a whiff of magic, so glamour first meant an enchantment or spell cast over the eyes. The poet Walter Scott helped spread the word in the early 1800s, after which it softened from literal sorcery into the figurative sense of alluring, dazzling charm. The short, punchy form glam was popularised in the 1970s, above all by glam rock, and it now works as an informal adjective, noun, and verb all at once.

How the word is built

• glam (clipped form of glamour, itself an altered spelling of grammar in the old sense of learning and magic)