glimpse

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡlɪmps/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪmps

Noun

glimpse (plural glimpses)

1. A brief look, glance, or peek.

   I only got a glimpse of the car, so I can tell you it was blue, but not what sort it was.

   • 1907, Robert Chambers, chapter 1/2, The Younger Set^[1]:

     Selwyn …, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around […] to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure […] and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.

Translations

a brief look

• Dutch: glimp (nl) m
• Finnish: vilahdus, pilkahdus, vilkaisu (fi)
• French: aperçu (fr) m
• Greek: βλέπω φευγαλέα (el) (vlépo fevghaléa)
• Hebrew: הצצה (he) (hatzatza)

• Jèrriais: apèrchévance f
• Maori: kitenga wheriko (mi)
• Portuguese: olhadela (pt) f
• Scottish Gaelic: plathadh (gd) m
• Swedish: skymt (sv) c, glimt (sv) c

Verb

glimpse (third-person singular simple present glimpses, present participle glimpsing, simple past and past participle glimpsed)

1. (transitive) To see or view briefly or incompletely.

   I have only begun to glimpse the magnitude of the problem.

2. To appear by glimpses.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Drayton to this entry?)

Synonyms

• perceive, notice, detect, spot, catch sight of

Translations

see briefly

• Czech: zahlédnout (cs)
• Dutch: een glimp opvangen (nl)
• Finnish: silmäillä (fi), vilkaista (fi)

• Maori: kite wheriko (mi)
• Portuguese: vislumbrar (pt)
• Swedish: skymta (sv) c, glimta (sv) c