gesso

[jes-oh]

noun, plural ges·soes.

gypsum or plaster of Paris prepared with glue for use as a surface for painting.

any plasterlike preparation to prepare a surface for painting, gilding, etc.

a prepared surface of plaster or plasterlike material for painting, gilding, etc.

Nearby words

Origin of gesso

1590–1600; < Italian < Latin gypsum gypsum

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for gesso

No color is so noble as the color of a good painting on canvas or gesso.
The Stones of Venice, Volume I (of 3)|John Ruskin
One will take naturally to oil-painting, another may 68 find clay or gesso her means of artistic expression.
The Madcap of the School|Angela Brazil
Throw away the water, make it into cakes, and let it dry; and this gesso is sold by the druggists to our painters.
Writing & Illuminating, & Lettering|Edward Johnston
Both frame and picture are in a bad state, the gesso having scaled off in places.
The Shores of the Adriatic|F. Hamilton Jackson

Figs. 15 and 16 are mirrors decorated with Gesso ornament, to which, however, little justice can be done in a photograph.
Little Books About Old Furniture. Volume II. The Period of Queen Anne|J. P. Blake

British Dictionary definitions for gesso

gesso

noun

a white ground of plaster and size, used esp in the Middle Ages and Renaissance to prepare panels or canvas for painting or gilding

any white substance, esp plaster of Paris, that forms a ground when mixed with water

Word Origin for gesso

C16: from Italian: chalk, gypsum

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gesso

gesso

plaster of Paris, 1590s, from Italian gesso, from Latin gypsum (see gypsum).