gesso

[ jes-oh ]

/ ˈdʒɛs oʊ /

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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.

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Origin of gesso

1590–1600; <Italian <Latin gypsumgypsum

Words nearby gesso

Gesner, gesneria, gesneriad, gesneria family, Gessen, gesso, gest, gestagen, gestalt, gestaltism, gestalt phenomenon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use gesso in a sentence

No. 1261 retains the greater part of a gilt gesso border, stamped or modelled with a wavy tendril and bud pattern.
A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery, Volume I, Foreign Schools|Various
The background is entirely of gold, thickly studded with bosses of gilded gesso.
Luca Signorelli|Maud Cruttwell
It is of an architectural type and of oak, and was covered with gilded gesso which long since disappeared.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 7|Various
The examples coated with gilded gesso or blazoned with paintings are, however, the most magnificent.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 4|Various

The evidence is in favour of white grounds, of size and gesso.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 402, April, 1849|Various

British Dictionary definitions for gesso

gesso

/ (ˈdʒɛsəʊ) /

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