glisten

English

Etymology

From Middle English glisnen, glistnen, from Old English glisnian, itself from Proto-West Germanic *glisnōn, while ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic *glisnōną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɪsən/
• Rhymes: -ɪsən

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Verb

glisten (third-person singular simple present glistens, present participle glistening, simple past and past participle glistened)

1. (intransitive, of a wet or greasy surface) To reflect light with a glittering luster; to sparkle, coruscate, glint or flash.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 202:

     The sun was fierce, the land seemed to glisten and drip with steam.

Derived terms

• aglisten
• beglisten
• glistener
• glisteny

Translations

to reflect light with a glittering luster

• Arabic: لَمَعَ (ar) (lamaʕa)
• Bulgarian: лъщя (bg) (lǎštja), блестя (bg) (blestja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 輝耀 / 辉耀 (zh) (huīyào), 閃光 / 闪光 (zh) (shǎnguāng), 閃耀 / 闪耀 (zh) (shǎnyào)

• Danish: glinse
• Esperanto: fulmeti, malseke rebrili (eo)
• Finnish: kimmeltää (fi), kimaltaa (fi), kimallella (fi)
• French: reluire (fr)
• Galician: relucir (gl)
• German: glitzern (de), glänzen (de), gleißen (de)

  Alemannic German: glänze

• Gothic: 𐌲𐌻𐌹𐍄𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (glitmunjan)
• Greek: λάμπω (el) (lámpo)

  Ancient: στίλβω (stílbō), μαρμαίρω (marmaírō)

• Hawaiian: ʻōlinolino
• Hindi: चमकना (camaknā)
• Hungarian: csillog (hu)
• Italian: luccicare (it)
• Japanese: 光る (ja) (ひかる, hikaru), 輝く (ja) (かがやく, kagayaku)
• Latin: fulgeō, niteō
• Maori: whakaira, kanapa, wheriko, korakora, kōratarata
• Persian: برق زدن (barq zadan)
• Polish: błyszczeć (pl)
• Portuguese: reluzir (pt)
• Russian: блесте́ть (ru) impf (blestétʹ), блесну́ть (ru) pf (blesnútʹ), сверка́ть (ru) impf (sverkátʹ), сверкну́ть (ru) pf (sverknútʹ)
• Slovene: lesketati
• Spanish: relucir (es), rielar (es)

Noun

glisten (plural glistens)

1. A glistening shine from a wet surface.
   • 1920, D.H. Lawrence, chapter 1, in Women in Love:

     In his clear northern flesh and his fair hair was a glisten like sunshine refracted through crystals of ice.

Translations

glistening shine

• Bulgarian: блясък (bg) m (bljasǎk)
• Finnish: kimmellys (fi), kimallus (fi)
• Irish: glioscarnach f

Anagrams

• Etlings, Tingles, lingets, niglets, singlet, sniglet, tingles