glimpse meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

glimpse

verb

/ˈɡlɪm(p)s/ · [ˈɡl̥ɪm(p)s]

Etymology

The verb is derived from earlier glimse (obsolete), from Middle English glimsen (“to dazzle; to glisten; to glance with the eyes”), possibly from Old English *glimsian, from Proto-West Germanic *glimmisōjan, from Proto-Germanic *glimō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Doublet of glimmer. The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates Dutch glimp (“glimpse”, noun) Middle Dutch glinsen (modern Dutch glinsteren (“to glint, glitter, shimmer, sparkle; to glance”), glimmen (“to gleam, shine”)) Middle High German glimsen (“to glow, smoulder”), glinsen (“to glimmer, shine”) Middle Low German glinsen, glintzen, glinzen (“to shimmer, shine”)

To see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.

Morning!—the Vestal Mother of the Sun / Seem'st thou to be, since from thy bosom born, / (Thou that first glimpsest—like a white-stoled nun!—) / He springeth forth—Oh! thou triumphal Morn!— / His race of glory and of joy to run; […]c. 1838 (date written), Emmeline Stuart Wortley, “Sonnet”, in Sonnets, Written Chiefly during a Tour through Holland, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Hungary, London: Joseph Rickerby, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 99:
Those wild hills are surely the outpost of a frightful cosmic race—as I doubt all the less since reading that a new ninth planet has been glimpsed beyond Neptune, just as those influences had said it would be glimpsed.1931 August, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “The Whisperer in Darkness. Chapter 8.”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XVIII, number 1, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Pub. Co., →OCLC, page 67, column 2:

1 more example

The illumined portholes that Eveline [in Eveline (1904) by James Joyce] glimpses mean that the night is drawing in, that the ship will be sailing into the dark. 'Illumined' also carries its own gothic charge, and what she glimpses is not therefore a passenger ship but a ship of death, more foreboding than inviting.2008, David Pierce, “Saying Goodbye in ‘Eveline’: Emigration · The Language of ‘Eveline’”, in Reading Joyce, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2013, →ISBN, page 103:

Figuratively To perceive (something intangible) briefly and incompletely.

I have only begun to glimpse the magnitude of the problem.
What memories? / The pure love thoughts and who may know / Thou glimpsest from the long ago?1861, Andrew M‘Ewen, “Avalande, a Romaunt”, in Avalande. Fyttes and Fancyings, London: Charles H. Clarke, […], →OCLC, page 16:

3 more examples

I seem to glimpse something of this familiar weakness in Mr. [Gilbert] White.1871, James Russell Lowell, “My Garden Acquaintance”, in My Study Windows, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 5:
A hope that, glimpsed, must fade; / A form, illusion made, / That, vanishing, shall come no more again!1912 November, Florence Earle Coates, “Cendrillon”, in The Unconquered Air and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 27:
To glimpse the actual woman behind these texts in any kind of full and adequate way is impossible. New studies of the political, economic, social and cultural fabric of first-century Palestine, however, enable us to fill in aspects of her life in broad strokes.2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America, volume 182, number 21:

Chiefly followed by at or upon: to look at briefly and incompletely; to glance.

The door always opens directly into the kitchen, without any vestibule; and, glimpsing in, you see that a cottager's life must be the very plainest and homeliest that ever was lived by men and women.1855 August 12 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “August 12th. [1855.]”, in Passages from the English Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1870, →OCLC, page 249:

To shine with a faint, unsteady light; to glimmer, to shimmer.

O Lothſome place where I / Haue ſene and herd my dere / When in my hart her eye / Hath made her thought appere / By glimſing with ſuch grace / As fortune it ne would, / That laſten any ſpace, / Betwene vs lenger ſhould.a. 1548 (date written), [Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey], “The Forsaken Louer Describeth and Forsaketh Loue”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: […] Richard Tottel, published 10 August 1557 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, folio 11, verso:
[O]ur curious yeares can finde / The chriſtal glas, vvhich glimſeth braue & bright, / And ſhevves the thing, much better than it is, / Beguylde vvith foyles, of ſundry ſubtil ſights, / So that they ſeeme, and couet not to be.1576, George Gascoigne, The Steele Glas. A Satyre […], London: […] Henrie Binneman, for Richarde Smith, →OCLC, signature C.j., verso:

Archaic, Poetic To appear or start to appear, especially faintly or unclearly; to dawn.

Straitvvaies on heapes the thronging cloudes ariſe, / As though the heauen vvere angry vvith the night, / Deformed ſhadovves, glimpſing in his ſight / As darkenes, for it vvould more darkened be, / Through thoſe poore crannies forcde it ſelfe to ſee.1630, Michaell Draiton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Fifth Booke of the Barrons Warres”, in Poems: […], London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] Ling, →OCLC, stanza 45, page 113:

Rare Sometimes followed by out: to provide a brief and incomplete look.

Derived terms: foreglimpse, glimpsable, glimpseable, glimpsed, glimpser, glimpsing, unglimpsed

glimpse

noun

Etymology

Chiefly followed by of: a brief and incomplete look.

I only got a glimpse of the car, so I can tell you the colour but not the registration number.
[T]he Baſilike, whoſe eyes procure delight to the looker at the firſt glymſe, and death at the ſecond glaunce.1580, Iohn Lyly [i.e., John Lyly], “Neither Thine, nor Hir Owne, Camilla”, in Euphues and His England. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 72, verso:

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But had thoſe vvits the vvonders of their dayes, / Or that ſvveete Teian Poet [Anacreon] vvhich did ſpend / His plenteous vaine in ſetting forth her [Venus's] prayſe, / Seene but a glims of this, vvhich I pretend, / Hovv vvondrouſly vvould he her face commend, […]1596, Edm[und] Spenser, “An Hymne of Heavenly Beautie”, in Fowre Hymnes, London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 43:
All that could be gathered vvas, that he had lurked a vvhile about the out-ſide of the Tovvn, and that here and there one or other had a glimpſe of him as he did make his eſcape out of Manſoul, […]1682, John Bunyan, “[No Incredulity Found in Mansoul]”, in The Holy War, Made by Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World. […], London: […] Dorman Newman […]; and Benjamin Alsop […], →OCLC, page 208:
[T]o the ſouth a ſmall opening led the eye to a glimpſe of the landſcape belovv, vvhich, ſeen beyond the dark javvs of the cliff, appeared free, and light, and gaily coloured, melting avvay into the blue and diſtant mountains.1797, Ann Radcliffe, chapter XI, in The Italian, or The Confessional of the Black Penitents. A Romance. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, pages 303–304:
The moſſy pales that ſkirt the orchard-green, / Here hid by ſhrub-vvood, there by glimpſes ſeen; […]1798, [Samuel Rogers], “An Epistle to a Friend”, in An Epistle to a Friend, with Other Poems. […], London: […] R. Noble, for T[homas] Cadell, Junior, and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, page 10, lines 19–20:

Archaic A brief, sudden flash of light; a glimmer.

[W]hat may this meane, / That thou, dead corſe, againe in compleate ſteele, / Reuiſſits thus the glimſes of the Moone, / Making night hideous, and vve fooles of nature, / So horridely to ſhake our diſpoſition, / VVith thoughts beyond the reaches of our ſoules?c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], signature C3, recto:
Sunk in his [Despair's] skull, his ſtaring eyes did glovve, / That made him deadly looke, their glimpſe did ſhovve / Like Cockatrices eyes, that ſparks of poyſon throvve.1610, G[iles] Fletcher, “Christs Victorie on Earth”, in Christs Victorie, and Triumph in Heauen, and Earth, ouer, and after Death, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] C. Legge, →OCLC, stanza 25, page 33:

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They that held the Stars of heaven vvere but rayes and flaſhing glimpſes of the Empyreall light, through holes and perforations of the upper heaven, took of the natural ſhadovvs of ſtars, […]1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter IIII.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 181:
Light as the Lightning glimpſ they ran, they flevv, […]1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [X4], recto, line 642:
If I, Celeſtial Sire, in aught / Have ſerv'd thy VVill, or gratify'd thy Thought, / One glimpſe of Glory to my Iſſue give; […]1700, [John] Dryden, “Homer’s Ilias”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 214:
At length the forest of Falkland received them, and a glimpse of the moon showed the dark and huge tower, an appendage of royalty itself, though granted for a season to the Duke of Albany.1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, page 187:

Figuratively A faint or imprecise idea; an inkling.

Every surmise and vaticination of the mind is entitled to a certain respect, and we learn to prefer imperfect theories, and sentences, which contain glimpses of truth, to digested systems which have no one valuable suggestion.1836, [Ralph Waldo Emerson], “Prospects”, in Nature, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 86:
Let there be thistles, there are grapes; / If old things, there are new; / Ten thousand broken lights and shapes, / Yet glimpses of the true.1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Will Waterproof’s Lyrical Monologue”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 185:

Figuratively, Rare A brief, unspecified amount of time; a moment.

[…] Alwin smiled, / When aught that from his young lips archly fell / The gloomy film from Harold's eye beguiled; / And pleased for a glimpse appeared the woeful Childe.1809–1818 (date written), Lord Byron, “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the First.”, in Thomas Moore, editor, The Works of Lord Byron: […], volume VIII, London: John Murray, […], published 1832, →OCLC, footnote 2, page 21:

Obsolete A faint (and often temporary) appearance; a tinge.

Reuiued with a glimſe of grace old ſorowes to let fal, / The hidden ſtraines I know and ſecret ſnares of loue: / How ſoone a loke wil print a thought, that neuer may remoue.a. 1548 (date written), [Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey], “Description of the Fickle Affections, Panges, and Sleightes of Loue”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: […] Richard Tottel, published 10 August 1557 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, folio 4, recto:
[T]here is no man hath a vertue, that he hath not a glimpſe of, nor any mã [man] an attaint, but he carries ſome ſtain of it.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], signature A3, verso:

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[T]here is not any creature that hath ſo neere a glympſe of their [spirits'] nature, as light in the Sunne and Elements; […]1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “The First Part”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, →OCLC, section 33, page 72:
VVho is this vve muſt learn, for man he ſeems / In all his lineaments, though in his face / The glimpſes of his Fathers glory ſhine.1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 6, lines 91–93:

Derived terms: foreglimpse, glemish, glimpselike

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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Conjugation of “glimpse”, all tenses