Other forms: scowling, scowls
To scowl is to look at somebody with an angry frown. Scowl at him, a permanent scowl, scowled and said nothing.
It differs from a frown in being aimed: you frown at a problem and scowl at a person. It works as a noun too. The word came into English from Scandinavian and has no relatives in the older English stock.
1verbscowlTo look at somebody with an angry frown.
“The old man scowled at the children who were kicking a ball against his wall.”
scowl is a look.
Middle English scowlen, probably from a Scandinavian source; Danish skule means to scowl.
Middle English
scowlen
English, today
scowl
From Middle English scowlen, scoulen, skoulen (also as Middle English schoulen), probably of gmq - origin. Compare Danish skule (“to scowl”), Norwegian skule (“to scowl”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA