glassy

English

a glassy building.

Etymology

From Middle English glasy, equivalent to glass +‎ -y. Compare Saterland Frisian glääsich (“glassy”), Dutch glazig (“glassy”), German Low German glasig (“glassy”), German glasig (“glassy”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɑːsi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːsi

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlæsi/

• Rhymes: -æsi

Adjective

glassy (comparative glassier, superlative glassiest)

1. Of or like glass, especially in being smooth and somewhat reflective.

   Coordinate terms: glossy, shiny

   a resin tabletop with a glassy polish

   1. (sailing, surfing, of water, not comparable) Lacking any chop; smooth and mostly flat.

      a fair day on a glassy sea

      • 1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer:

        It was blowing about 15 knots, which is considered fairly glassy for the west Coast.

2. Including a lot of glass.
   1. Extensively glazed.

      architecture enamored of glass and steel, where glassier meant classier

      • 2023 January 12, Tim Starks, with Aaron Schaffer, “Don't panic. It might not be a cyberattack. The Cybersecurity 202 newsletter.”, in Washington Post‎^[1], retrieved 12 January 2023:

        Every time there's a major technological outage, […] speculation quickly erupts blaming a possible cyberattack. […] mostly, the sentiment of cyber observers is that it's a bad idea to jump to conclusions, especially publicly. ¶ "If we keep crying wolf, then we lose the ability to educate and solve real problems," Bryson Bort, founder of the cybersecurity company Scythe, told me. "We live in the glassiest house in the world with our reliance on information systems."

3. (of eyes) Dull; expressionless; lifeless.

   Coordinate term: fisheye

   the glassy eyes of a person in a trance

Derived terms

• glassily
• glassiness
• glassy carbon
• glassy-eyed
• glassy feldspar
• glassyheaded
• nonglassy

Translations

of or like glass

• Bulgarian: стъ́клен (stắklen), стъклови́ден (stăklovíden)
• Danish: glasagtig
• Dutch: glasachtig (nl), glazig (nl)
• Esperanto: vitreca (eo)
• Finnish: lasinen (fi)
• Galician: vidroso, vítreo
• Hungarian: üveges (hu), üveg-
• Italian: vitreo (it), vetrato (it)
• Latin: vitreus
• Latvian: stiklveida
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: glassaktig, (surface) speilblank

• Polish: szklany (pl)
• Spanish: vidrioso (es), vítreo (es)
• Swedish: glasig (sv), spegelblank (sv) (of water or ice)
• Turkish: camsı (tr)
• Ukrainian: скляни́й (skljanýj), склоподі́бний (sklopodíbnyj), склови́дний (sklovýdnyj)

dull, expressionless

• Bulgarian: мъ́тен (bg) (mắten), бези́зразен (bg) (bezízrazen)
• Dutch: glasachtig (nl), glazig (nl)
• Finnish: lasittunut (fi)
• Galician: vidroso
• Hungarian: kifejezéstelen (hu)
• Italian: vitreo (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: glassaktig

• Polish: zimny (pl)
• Russian: остекленевший (ru) (osteklenevšij)
• Spanish: vidrioso (es)
• Swedish: glasartad (sv)
• Turkish: donuk (tr), cam gibi
• Ukrainian: скляни́й (skljanýj), оскляні́лий (oskljanílyj)

Noun

glassy (plural glassies)

1. A glass marble.
   • 1915, D. H. Lawrence, The Rainbow, Vintage, published 2011, page 198:

     Then suddenly she ceased to hear, having caught sight of a glassie rolled into a corner.

Alternative forms

• glassie
• glasser