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Webster 1913 Edition

Glance

Glance

,
Noun.
[Akin to D.
glans
luster, brightness, G.
glanz
, Sw.
glans
, D.
glands
brightness, glimpse. Cf.
Gleen
,
Glint
,
Glitter
, and
Glance
a mineral.]
1.
A sudden flash of light or splendor.
Swift as the lightning
glance
.
Milton.
2.
A quick cast of the eyes; a quick or a casual look; a swift survey; a glimpse.
Dart not scornful
glances
from those eyes.
Shakespeare
3.
An incidental or passing thought or allusion.
How fleet is a
glance
of the mind.
Cowper.
4.
(Min.)
A name given to some sulphides, mostly dark-colored, which have a brilliant metallic luster, as the sulphide of copper, called copper glance.
Glance coal
,
anthracite; a mineral composed chiefly of carbon.
–
Glance cobalt
,
cobaltite, or gray cobalt.
–
Glance copper
,
chalcocite.
–
Glance wood
,
a hard wood grown in Cuba, and used for gauging instruments, carpenters’ rules, etc.
McElrath.

Glance

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Glanced
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Glancing
.]
1.
To shoot or emit a flash of light; to shine; to flash.
From art, from nature, from the schools,
Let random influences
glance
,
Like light in many a shivered lance,
That breaks about the dappled pools.
Tennyson.
2.
To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside. ”Your arrow hath glanced”.
Shak.
On me the curse aslope
Glanced
on the ground.
Milton.
3.
To look with a sudden, rapid cast of the eye; to snatch a momentary or hasty view.
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
Doth
glance
from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven.
Shakespeare
4.
To make an incidental or passing reflection; to allude; to hint; – often with at.
Wherein obscurely
Caesar's ambition shall be
glanced
at.
Shakespeare
He
glanced
at a certain reverend doctor.
Swift.
5.
To move quickly, appearing and disappearing rapidly; to be visible only for an instant at a time; to move interruptedly; to twinkle.
And all along the forum and up the sacred seat,
His vulture eye pursued the trip of those small
glancing
feet.
Macaulay.

Glance

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To shoot or dart suddenly or obliquely; to cast for a moment;
as, to
glance
the eye
.
2.
To hint at; to touch lightly or briefly.
[Obs.]
In company I often
glanced
it.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Glance

GL`ANCE

,
Noun.
[The primary sense is to shoot, to throw, to dart.]
1.
A sudden shoot of light or splendor.
2.
A shoot or darting of sight; a rapid or momentary view or cast; a snatch of sight; as a sudden glance; a glance of the eye.

GL`ANCE

,
Verb.
I.
To shoot or dart a ray of light or splendor.
When through the gloom the glancing lightnings fly.
1.
To fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside. The arrow struck the shield and glanced. So we say, a glancing ball or shot.
2.
To look with a sudden rapid cast of the eye; to snatch a momentary or hasty view.
Then sit again, and sigh and glance.
3.
To hint; to cast a word or reflection; as to glance at a different subject.
4.
To censure by oblique hints.

GL`ANCE

,
Verb.
T.
To shoot or dart suddenly or obliquely; to cast for a moment; as, to glance the eye.

Definition 2024

glance

glance

English

Alternative forms

Verb

glance ‎(third-person singular simple present glances, present participle glancing, simple past and past participle glanced)

  1. (intransitive) To look briefly (at something).
    She glanced at her reflection as she passed the mirror.
    • Shakespeare
      The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, / Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven.
  2. (intransitive) To graze a surface.
  3. To sparkle.
    The spring sunlight was glancing on the water of the pond.
    • Tennyson
      From art, from nature, from the schools, / Let random influences glance, / Like light in many a shivered lance, / That breaks about the dappled pools.
  4. To move quickly, appearing and disappearing rapidly; to be visible only for an instant at a time; to move interruptedly; to twinkle.
    • Macaulay
      And all along the forum and up the sacred seat, / His vulture eye pursued the trip of those small glancing feet.
  5. To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside.
    • Shakespeare
      Your arrow hath glanced.
    • Milton
      On me the curse aslope / Glanced on the ground.
  6. (soccer) To hit lightly with the head, make a deft header.
    • 2011 January 18, “Wolverhampton 5 - 0 Doncaster”, in BBC:
      Doncaster paid the price two minutes later when Doyle sent Hunt away down the left and his pinpoint cross was glanced in by Fletcher for his sixth goal of the season.
  7. To make an incidental or passing reflection; to allude; to hint; often with at.
    • Shakespeare
      Wherein obscurely / Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at.
    • Jonathan Swift
      He glanced at a certain reverend doctor.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

glance ‎(plural glances)

  1. A brief or cursory look.
    • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
      Dart not scornful glances from those eyes.
    • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
      Warwick left the undertaker's shop and retraced his steps until he had passed the lawyer's office, toward which he threw an affectionate glance.
    • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
      But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.
  2. A deflection.
  3. (cricket) A stroke in which the ball is deflected to one side.
  4. A sudden flash of light or splendour.
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      swift as the lightning glance
  5. An incidental or passing thought or allusion.
  6. (mineralogy) Any of various sulphides, mostly dark-coloured, which have a brilliant metallic lustre.
    copper glance‎
  7. (mineralogy) Glance coal.
Derived terms

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English glacen ‎(“to graze, strike a glancing blow”), from Old French glacier ‎(“to slip, make slippery”). Sense of "look quickly" (first recorded 1580s) probably was influenced in form and meaning by Middle English glenten ‎(“to look askance”). See glint.

Pronunciation

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