gleam
See also: glean
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
- (noun) From Middle English gleme, from Old English glæm, from Proto-Germanic *glaimiz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley-.
- (verb) Derived from the Middle English noun form before the first millennium.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
gleam (plural gleams)
- A small or indistinct shaft or stream of light.
- 1860, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Landlord’s Tale. Paul Revere’s Ride.”, in Tales of a Wayside Inn, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, OCLC 840321886, page 22:
- And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height / A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
- (figuratively) A glimpse or hint; an indistinct sign of something.
- Brightness or shininess; splendor.
- 1713, Alexander Pope, “Windsor-Forest. […]”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, OCLC 43265629:
- In the clear azure gleam the flocks are seen.
- 1966, Bobby Hebb (lyrics and music), “Sunny”:
- Sunny, thank you for that smile upon your face / Sunny, thank you, thank you for the gleam that flows its grace
TranslationsEdit
small shaft or stream of light
glimpse or indistinct sign
brightness or splendor
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VerbEdit
gleam (third-person singular simple present gleams, present participle gleaming, simple past and past participle gleamed) (intransitive)
- To shine; to glitter; to glisten.
- To be briefly but strongly apparent.
- (obsolete, falconry) To disgorge filth, as a hawk.
TranslationsEdit
to shine, glitter, or glisten
to be briefly but strongly apparent
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See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “gleam”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
- “gleam” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- "gleam" in On-line Medical Dictionary, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1997–2005.
- "gleam" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.