glimpse
pronunciation
How to pronounce glimpse in British English:
UK [ɡlɪmps]
How to pronounce glimpse in American English:
US [ɡlɪmps]
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- Noun:
- a quick look
- a brief or incomplete view
- a vague indication
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- Verb:
- catch a glimpse of or see briefly
Word Origin
- glimpse
- glimpse: [14] Glimpse originally meant ‘shine faintly’. It comes from the same Germanic source (*glaim-, *glim-) as produced English gleam and glimmer. The modern sense ‘see briefly’ developed in the 18th century from the noun glimpse, originally a ‘momentary or dim flash’, hence ‘faint brief appearance’, and finally ‘sight of something afforded by such an appearance’.=> gleam, glimmer
- glimpse (v.)
- c. 1400, "to glisten, be dazzling," probably from Old English *glimsian "shine faintly," part of the group of Germanic words in *gl- having to do with "smooth; shining; joyous" (see gleam (n.)). If so, the intrusive -p- would be there to ease pronunciation. From mid-15c. as "to glance with the eyes;" from 1779 as "catch a quick view." Related: Glimpsed; glimpsing.
- glimpse (n.)
- 1530s, "faint or transient appearance," from glimpse (v.). From 1570s as "a brief and imperfect view." Earlier was the verbal noun glimpsing "imperfect vision" (late 14c.).
Example
- 1. That 's a glimpse of the world we 're now entering .
- 2. Here , a glimpse of hayden valley .
- 3. The glimpse changed his scientific career .
- 4. This collection is only a small glimpse of events in china over the past month .
- 5. It 's a glimpse of the forces that bind molecules together , essentially .