gliff

English

Alternative forms

• glift

Etymology

Compare Middle English glyffen (“to give a glancing look; to become startled or frightened”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɪf/
• Rhymes: -ɪf
• Homophone: glyph

Noun

gliff (plural gliffs)

1. (UK, Scotland, dialect) A transient glance.
2. (UK, Scotland, dialect) An unexpected view of something that startles one.
3. (UK, Scotland, dialect) A sudden fright.
4. (UK, Scotland, dialect) A short moment.
   • 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IX, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume I (The Black Dwarf), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], OCLC 230697985, page 207:

     [W]ill ye come out and speak just a gliff to ane that has mony thanks to gi'e ye?— […] Wad ye but come out a gliff, man, or but say ye're listening?— […]

5. (US) A meaningless placeholder word used in certain standardized tests

   A beagle is a type of gliff.

Related terms

• giffle (East Anglia)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for gliff in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

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Welsh

Noun

gliff

1. Soft mutation of cliff.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cliff	gliff	nghliff	chliff
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.