glance

Meanings

Verb

• To look briefly (at something).
• To graze at a surface.
• To sparkle.
• To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside.
• To hit lightly with the head, make a deft header.
• To make an incidental or passing reflection; to allude; to hint; often with at.
• A type of interaction between parent fish and offspring in which juveniles swim toward and rapidly touch the sides of the parent, in most cases feeding on parental mucus. Relatively few species glance, mainly some Cichlidae.

Noun

• A brief or cursory look.
• A deflection.
• A stroke in which the ball is deflected to one side.
• A sudden flash of light or splendour.
• An incidental or passing thought or allusion.
• Any of various sulphides, mostly dark-coloured, which have a brilliant metallic lustre.
• Glance coal.

Related

Similar words

• see

Origin

• From a conflation of Middle English glacen ("to graze, strike a glancing blow") and Middle English glenten ("to look askance"). glacen came from Old French glacier ("to slip, make slippery"), which was a derivative of glace. glenten was derived from Old Norse *glenta ("to shine; look"), which ultimately comes from Proto-Germanic *glintaną. glenten is also the source of glint.
• The form of the modern word takes largely after its Latinate parent, save for the medial -n-. On the other hand, the most common sense in modern usage, "to look briefly (at something)", comes from its Germanic parent. The sense "to sparkle" does as well. Most other senses derive from glacen.