glance
pronunciation
How to pronounce glance in British English:
UK [ɡlɑːns]
How to pronounce glance in American English:
US [ɡlæns]
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- Noun:
- a quick look
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- Verb:
- throw a glance at; take a brief look at
- rebound after hitting
Word Origin
- glance
- glance: [15] ‘Touch or deflect lightly’, as in ‘glance off something’ and a ‘glancing blow’, is the primary meaning of glance; ‘look briefly’ did not develop until the 16th century. The word may have originated as an alteration of the Middle English verb glacen ‘glide, slide’ (probably under the influence of Middle English glenten, the ancestor of modern English glint). Glacen was borrowed from Old French glacier ‘slide’, a derivative of glace ‘ice’ (from which English also gets glacier).=> glacier
- glance (n.)
- c. 1500, "a sudden movement producing a flash," from glance (v.). Meaning "brief or hurried look" is from 1590s.
- glance (v.)
- mid-15c., of weapons, "strike obliquely without giving full impact," a nasalized form of glacen "to graze, strike a glancing blow" (c. 1300), from Old French glacier "to slip, make slippery" (compare Old French glaciere "part of a knight's armor meant to deflect blows"), from glace "ice" (see glacial). Sense of "look quickly" (first recorded 1580s) probably was by influence of Middle English glenten "look askance" (see glint (v.)), which also could account for the -n-. Related: Glanced; glancing.
Example
- 1. A meaningful glance across a crowded room .
- 2. The camera receives not a single glance .
- 3. One final glance from thine eyes , and my life will be ever thine own .
- 4. They visit only the most famous attractions and even these often get only a cursory glance .
- 5. At a glance , visitors can 't differentiate a professional photographer with an enormous lens from an enthusiast just getting started in photography .