gleam
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gleam¹
- /ɡliːm/ UK
- /ɡlim/ US
Rhymes with -iːm
Where it comes from
From Middle English glem, gleam, gleme (“shaft of light; part of a comet’s tail; reflected sparkle; dawn; daylight; radiance (physical or spiritual); something fleeting”), from Old English glǣm (“gleam”), from Proto-Germanic *glaimiz (“brightness; splendour”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”).
Cognates
* German Low German Gleem (“shine, luster, gloss”)
* Faroese glæma (“gleam, glimmer”)
* Old High German glīmen (“to glow, shine”); gleimo, glīmo (“glowworm”) (Middle High German glīme, gleime)
* Old Saxon glīmo (“brightness”)
noun gleams
- An appearance of light, especially one which is indistinct or small, or short-lived. Is not yon gleame, the ſhuddering morne that flakes, / VVith ſiluer tinctur, the eaſt vierge of heauen?
- An indistinct sign of something; a glimpse or hint. The rescue workers preserved a gleam of optimism that the trapped miners might still survive.
- A bright, but intermittent or short-lived, appearance of something.
- A look of joy or liveliness on one's face. [H]is black visage lighted up with a curious, mischievous gleam.
- Sometimes as hot gleam: a warm ray of sunlight; also, a period of warm weather, for instance, between showers of rain. The Pepper-trees live in Italie; the ſhrub of Caſia or the Canell likevviſe in the Northerly regions; the Frankincenſe tree alſo hath been knovvne to live in Lydia: but vvhere vvere the hote gleames of the Sunne to be found in thoſe regions, either to drie up the vvateriſh humor of the one, or to co
- Brightness or shininess; radiance, splendour. Then vvas the faire Dodonian tree far ſeene, / Vpon ſeauen hills to ſpread his gladſome gleame, / And conquerours bedecked vvith his greene, / Along the bancks of the Auſonian ſtreame: […]
gleam²
- /ɡliːm/ UK
- /ɡlim/ US
Rhymes with -iːm
Where it comes from
From Middle English glemen (“to shine; to glance, look”) [and other forms], from glem, gleam (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Cognate with German Low German glemen (“to glow, shine”).
verb gleams · gleaming · gleamed · gleam
- Chiefly in conjunction with an adverb: to cause (light) to shine. Many a dry drop ſeem'd a vveeping teare, / Shed for the ſlaughtred husband by the vvife. / The red bloud reek'd to ſhevv the Painters ſtrife, / And dying eyes gleem'd forth their aſhie lights, / Like dying coales burnt out in tedious nights.
- To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter. Quick to redeem the Prey their plighted Lords / Advance, the Palace gleams vvith ſhining Svvords.
- To be strongly but briefly apparent. Mr. Crawley spoke these words without hesitation, even with eloquence, standing upright, and with something of a noble anger gleaming over his poor wan face; and, I think that while speaking them, he was happier than he had been for many a long day.
gleam³
- /ɡliːm/ UK
- /ɡlim/ US
Rhymes with -iːm
Where it comes from
A variant of Middle English gleimen, gleym (“to smear; to make slimy or sticky; to fill up (the stomach); to nauseate; of a slimy or viscous substance: to be stuck together; (figuratively) to captivate, ensnare; to infect with heresy”) [and other forms], probably a blend of glet (“slimy or viscous matter produced by animals; mucus, phlegm; congestion of mucus or phlegm in the body; viscosity”), gleu (“substance used to stick things together, glue; viscous medicine made from plants”), etc. + Old Norse kleima (“to daub, smear”) (whence Old English clǣman (“to smear”)) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *klaimijaną (“to smear with clay, to mortar”), from *klaimaz (“clay; mortar”), from Proto-Indo-European *gleh₁y- (“to glue, stick; to smear”)).
verb gleams · gleaming · gleamed
- Of a hawk or other bird of prey: to disgorge filth from its crop or gorge. Gleam, a term uſed after a hawk hath caſt and gleameth, or throweth up filth from her gorge.
