lurid [M17th] The early sense of lurid was ‘pale and dismal in colour’. It comes from Latin luridus, related to luror ‘a wan or yellow colour’. In the early 18th century it became a term for a bright light seen in the gloom, such as lightning flashing across dark clouds, and this seems to have led to the reversal of the sense to something unpleasantly bright-coloured in the early 20th century.