lustre
Americannoun
noun
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reflected light; sheen; gloss
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radiance or brilliance of light
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great splendour of accomplishment, beauty, etc
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a substance used to polish or put a gloss on a surface
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a vase or chandelier from which hang cut-glass drops
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a drop-shaped piece of cut glass or crystal used as a decoration on a chandelier, vase, etc
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a shiny metallic surface on some pottery and porcelain
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( as modifier )
lustre decoration
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mineralogy the way in which light is reflected from the surface of a mineral. It is one of the properties by which minerals are defined
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lustre
C16: from Old French, from Old Italian lustro, from Latin lustrāre to make bright; related to lustrum
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He argued that rival destinations were gaining ground while Vienna, increasingly expensive compared to other central European capitals, "is losing its lustre".
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Versace's lustre had been waning in recent years, unlike that of the Prada Group, which is in robust health, fuelled by strong sales of its younger Miu Miu Line.
From Barron's ● Dec. 2, 2025
It was the car to be seen in and gave the Jaguar badge a lustre that lasted for decades.
From BBC ● Dec. 7, 2024
The mold is hand polished to a mirror finish, giving the bumper its lustre.
From Reuters ● Sep. 18, 2023
His countenance reminded one of a lamp quenched, waiting to be re-lit—and alas! it was not himself that could now kindle the lustre of animated expression: he was dependent on another for that office!
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Lustred Wares.—The lustred wares of Deruta have marked characteristics, and, though differing in actual treatment from the Hispano-Moresque, their appearance is eloquent in favour of such a derivation.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 6 "Celtes, Konrad" to "Ceramics" by Various
If it slipped, whose were the lustred pots?
From The Collectors by Frank Jewett Mather
Faith sings a song amidst the whirl of life: "With mercy and with judgment, My web of time He wove; And aye the dews of sorrow Were lustred with His love."
From Old Groans and New Songs Being Meditations on the Book of Ecclesiastes by Frederick Charles Jennings
"All right," called Cleghorn, giving a few strokes of the pump, but never taking his eyes from the lustred pots.
From The Collectors by Frank Jewett Mather
Let into the woodwork panelling in the west bay there are two small lustred Persian tiles of the thirteenth century.
From Frederic Lord Leighton An Illustrated Record of His Life and Work by Ernest Rhys
I remember that I wore a nightgown of pale blue lustring, with a chip hat trimmed with ribands of the same colour.
From Beaux and Belles of England Mrs. Mary Robinson, Written by Herself, With the lives of the Duchesses of Gordon and Devonshire by Mary Robinson
One lustring hood was brown; and frequently green ribbons were sent; also many yards of scarlet and pink gauze, which seem the very essence of juvenility.
From Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820) by Alice Morse Earle
A new white lustring sacque and petticoat lay on the bed.
From Beaux and Belles of England Mrs. Mary Robinson, Written by Herself, With the lives of the Duchesses of Gordon and Devonshire by Mary Robinson
In the list of the "wedding apparell" of Madam Phillips, of Boston, are velvet hoods, love-hoods, and "sneal hoods"; hoods of Persian, of lustring, of gauze; frequently scarlet hoods are named.
From Two Centuries of Costume in America, Volume 1 (1620-1820) by Alice Morse Earle
Conceive it pawed about and handled between the rude jests of tarpaulin ruffians—a thing of its delicate texture—the salt bilge wetting it till it became as vapid as a damaged lustring.
From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 Elia and The Last Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
