discourse vs gloss

discourse

noun
  • A formal lengthy exposition of some subject, either spoken or written. 

  • Expression in words, either speech or writing. 

  • An institutionalized way of thinking, a social boundary defining what can be said about a specific topic (after Michel Foucault). 

  • Any rational expression, reason. 

verb
  • To exercise reason; to employ the mind in judging and inferring; to reason. 

  • To engage in discussion or conversation; to converse. 

  • To write or speak formally and at length. 

gloss

noun
  • An extensive commentary on some text. 

  • A surface shine or luster. 

  • A superficially or deceptively attractive appearance. 

  • A brief explanatory note or translation of a foreign, archaic, technical, difficult, complex, or uncommon expression, inserted after the original, in the margin of a document, or between lines of a text. 

  • An interpretation by a court of specific point within a statute or case law. 

  • A glossary; a collection of such notes. 

verb
  • To give a gloss or sheen to. 

  • To make (something) attractive by deception 

  • Used in a phrasal verb: gloss over (“to cover up a mistake or crime, to treat something with less care than it deserves”). 

  • To add a gloss to (a text). 

  • To become shiny. 

How often have the words discourse and gloss occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )