glance

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English[edit]

WOTD – 25 May 2023

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

The verb is derived from Late Middle English glenchen (“of a blow: to strike obliquely, glance; of a person: to turn quickly aside, dodge”) [and other forms],[1] a blend of:[2]

The noun is derived from the verb.[4]

Verb[edit]

glance (third-person singular simple present glances, present participle glancing, simple past and past participle glanced)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To turn (one's eyes or look) at something, often briefly.
    2. To look briefly at (something).
    3. To cause (light) to gleam or sparkle.
    4. (also figuratively) To cause (something) to move obliquely.
      • a. 1657, Joseph Hall, “Observations on Some Specialties of Divine Providence in the Life of Jos. Hall, Bishop of Norwich”, in The Shaking of the Olive-Tree. The Remaining Works of that Incomparable Prelate Joseph Hall, D.D. […], London: […] J. Cadwel for J[ohn] Crooke, […], published 1660, →OCLC, page 22:
        One morning as I lay in my bed, a ſtrong motion vvas ſuddenly glanced into my thoughts of going to London; I aroſe and betook me to the vvay, […]
      • 1697, William Dampier, “An Account of the Author’s Return out of the South Seas, to His Landing near Cape St. Lawrence, in the Isthmus of Darien: With an Occasional Description of the Moskito Indians”, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 10:
        [S]hould vve croſs them, tho they ſhould ſee Shoals of Fiſh, or Turtle, or the like, they vvill purpoſely ſtrike their Harpoons and Turtle-irons aſide, or ſo glance them as to kill nothing.
      1. (ball games) To hit (a ball) lightly, causing it to move in another direction.
      2. (cricket) To hit (a ball) with a bat held in a slanted manner; also, to play such a stroke against (the bowler).
    5. (figuratively) To communicate (something) using the eyes.
      • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, canto II, page 345:
        [T]here his Eye took diſtant Aim, / And glanc'd Reſpect to that bright Dame, […]
      • 1846, Robert Browning, “Luria. A Tragedy.”, in Poems […], new edition, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], published 1849, →OCLC, page 201:
        As if there were no glowing eye i' the world, / To glance straight inspiration to my brain, / No glorious heart to give mine twice the beats!
    6. (obsolete)
      1. To touch (something) lightly or obliquely; to graze.
      2. To make an incidental or passing reflection, often unfavourably, on (a topic); also, to make (an incidental or passing reflection, often unfavourable).
        • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 112, column 2:
          I vvill this Night, / in ſeuerall Hands, in at his VVindovves throvv, / As if they came from ſeuerall Citizens, / VVritings, all tending to the great opinion / That Rome holds of his Name: vvherein obſcurely / Cæſars Ambition ſhall be glanced at.
        • 1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section X. A Tale of a Tub.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 191:
          And therefore in order to promote ſo uſeful a VVork, I vvill here take Leave to glance a fevv Innuendo’s, that may be of great Aſſiſtance to thoſe ſublime Spirits, vvho ſhall be appointed to labor in a univerſal Comment upon this vvonderful Diſcourſe.
        • 1825, Thomas Carlyle, “Part III. From His Settlement at Jena to His Death (1790–1805).”, in The Life of Friedrich Schiller. […], London: […] [C. Richards] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 204:
          [T]hey rush upon him, and he narrowly escapes killing or ducking, for having ventured to glance a censure at the General.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. (also figuratively) To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside.
      1. (cricket) To hit a ball with a bat held in a slanted manner.
      2. (ichthyology) Of certain juvenile fish, chiefly of the Cichlidae family: to rapidly touch the side of its parent's body, usually to feed on mucus.
        • 1988 May 1, Kathryn Kavanagh, “Notes on the Frequency and Function of Glancing in Juvenile Acanthochromis (Pomacentridae)”, in Michael E. Douglas, editor, Copeia, number 2, Lawrence, Kan.: American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, pages 493 and 494:
          [Page 493] [G]eneral impressions of glancing frequency in Acanthochromis juveniles have suggested that the glancing off parents occurs most often in young juveniles and appears to diminish in frequency as juveniles age […] [Page 494] The unusually high variance in lagoon stage-3 juveniles was caused by one relatively small brood (14) that glanced 36 times in one 30-min observation period.
    2. Of light, etc.: to gleam, to sparkle.
      She watched the spring sunlight glancing on the water of the pond.
      • 1678, Robert Barclay, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, as the Same is Held Forth, and Preached, by the People, Called in Scorn, Quakers: […], 4th edition, London: […] T. Sowle, […], published 1701, →OCLC, page 195:
        [T]hou [God] didſt call, thou didſt cry, thou didſt break my Deafneſs, thou glancedſt, thou didſt ſhine, thou chaſeſt avvay my Darkneſs.
      • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, canto XLVIII, page 71:
        From art, from nature, from the schools, / Let random influences glance, / Like light in many a shiver'd lance, / That breaks about the dappled pools: […]
    3. Of a thing: to move in a way that catches light, and flash or glitter.
    4. (figuratively)
      1. Often followed by at: of the eyes or a person: to look briefly.
        She glanced at her reflection as she passed the mirror.
      2. Often followed by at: of a topic: to make an incidental or passing reflection on, often unfavourably; to allude to; to hint at.
        • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 82, column 1:
          Is't not enough thou haſt ſuborn'd theſe vvomen, / To accuſe this vvorthy man? but in foule mouth, / And in the vvitneſſe of his proper eare, / To call him villaine; and then to glance from him, / To th' Duke himſelfe, to taxe him with Iniuſtice?
        • a. 1746 (date written), Jonathan Swift, “An Essay on the Fates of Clergymen”, in Thomas Sheridan and John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume V, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1801, →OCLC, page 120:
          He could never procure himself to be chosen fellow; for it was objected against him, that he had written verses, and particularly some, wherein he glanced at a certain reverend doctor famous for dulness; […]
        • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 237:
          Francesca followed, reluctant enough in her secret; for though she would not have admitted it even to herself, she did shrink from the infliction of the inane solemnities with which her father garnished his discourse—to say nothing of the ungracious reflections which so often glanced at herself.
        • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Lord Advocate Prestongrange”, in Catriona, London, Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 49:
          You do not appear to me to recognize the gravity of your situation, or you would be more careful not to pejorate the same by words which glance upon the purity of justice.
    5. (obsolete)
      1. Followed by by: to pass near without coming into contact.
        • c. 1670s (date written), Thomas Brown [i.e., Thomas Browne], “Sect[ion] III”, in John Jeffery, editor, Christian Morals, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] [A]t the University-Press, for Cornelius Crownfield printer to the University; and are to be sold by Mr. Knapton […]; and Mr. [John] Morphew […], published 1716, →OCLC, part II, page 49:
          Some have digged deep, yet glanced by the Royal Vein; and a Man may come unto the Pericardium, but not the Heart of Truth.
      2. To move quickly; to dart, to shoot.
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of glance
infinitive (to) glance
present tense past tense
1st-person singular glance glanced
2nd-person singular glance, glancest† glanced, glancedst†
3rd-person singular glances, glanceth† glanced
plural glance
subjunctive glance glanced
imperative glance —
participles glancing glanced

†Archaic or obsolete.

Alternative forms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
of certain juvenile fish: to rapidly touch the side of its parent’s body

Noun[edit]

glance (countable and uncountable, plural glances)

  1. (also figuratively) A brief or cursory look.
  2. (also figuratively) A quick movement that catches light, and causes a flash or glitter; also, the flash or glitter.
  3. (cricket) A stroke in which the ball is hit with a bat held in a slanted manner.
  4. (ichthyology) Of certain juvenile fish, chiefly of the Cichlidae family: an act of rapidly touching the side of its parent's body, usually to feed on mucus.
  5. (obsolete)
    1. An act of striking and flying off in an oblique direction; a deflection.
    2. (figuratively) An incidental or passing allusion or thought, often unfavourable, expressed on a topic.
Alternative forms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
flash or glitter — see flash,‎ glitter

Etymology 2[edit]

From Late Middle English glaunce[5] (compare glaunce-ore (“type of ore; lead ore used for glazing pottery (?)”)),[6] borrowed from Middle High German glanz (“(adjective) gleaming, glittering, sparkling; (noun) a gleam, glitter, sparkle”),[7] from Old High German glanz (“bright”, adjective), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlend-.

Noun[edit]

glance (countable and uncountable, plural glances) (mineralogy)

  1. Short for glance coal (“any hard, lustrous coal such as anthracite”).
  2. (obsolete except in the names of certain minerals) Any of various sulphides, mostly dark-coloured, which have a brilliant metallic lustre.
    copper glance    silver glance
    • 1840, William Whewell, “Aphorisms Concerning Science. Aphorism XVII.”, in The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded upon Their History. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, page cxix:
      The Oxides, Pyrites, Glances, and Blendes, might be so termed; thus we should have Tungstic Iron Oxide (usually called Tungstate of Iron), Arsenical Iron Pyrites (Mispickel), Tetrahedral Copper Glance (Fahlerz), Quicksilver Blende (Cinnabar), and the Metals might be termed native, as Native Copper, Native Silver.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
short for glance coal — see glance coal

References[edit]

  1. ^ “glenchen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “glance, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2023; “glance1, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “glācen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “glance, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2023; “glance1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  5. ^ “glance2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  6. ^ “glaunce-ọ̄re, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  7. ^ Compare “glance, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 202.

Further reading[edit]

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