glisten
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English glisnen, glistnen, from Old English glisnian, itself from Proto-West Germanic *glisnōn, while ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic *glisnōną.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
glisten (third-person singular simple present glistens, present participle glistening, simple past and past participle glistened)
- (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.
Translations edit
to reflect light with a glittering luster
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Noun edit
glisten (plural glistens)
- 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 edit
glistening shine