glint

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) 15th century. Borrowed from Scots glint; from Middle English glenten (“to shine, gleam; flash”); probably alteration of Old Norse [Term?]; from Middle High German glinzen; from Proto-Germanic *glintaną, *glintjaną; from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Cognate with Swedish glänta, glinta (“to slip, slide, gleam, shine”), Swedish glimt. Reintroduced into literary English by Robert Burns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɪnt/
• Rhymes: -ɪnt

Noun

glint (plural glints)

1. A short flash of light.

   I saw the glint of metal as he raised the gun.

Translations

short flash of light

• Bulgarian: проблясък (bg) m (probljasǎk), светване n (svetvane)
• Czech: záblesk m, odlesk m
• Finnish: välähdys (fi), välkähdys (fi)
• German: Glitzern n
• Greek: σπινθήρισμα (el) n (spinthírisma), μαρμαρυγή (el) f (marmarygí), ανταύγεια (el) f (antávgeia)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani:

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: glimt (no) n or m

  Nynorsk: glimt m or n

• Romanian: scânteie (ro)
• Russian: вспы́шка (ru) (vspýška)

Adjective

glint (comparative more glint, superlative most glint)

1. (archaic, Shropshire, of a blade) Not sharp; dull.

   The knife is glint.

Verb

glint (third-person singular simple present glints, present participle glinting, simple past and past participle glinted)

1. (intransitive) To flash or gleam briefly.

   A wedding ring glinted on her finger.

2. (intransitive) To glance; to peep forth, as a flower from the bud; to glitter.
   • 1785, Robert Burns, The Holy Fair

     The rising sun owre Galston muirs, / Wi' glorious light was glintin'

3. (transitive) To cause to flash or gleam; to reflect.
   • 1980, Inquiry Magazine

     The scientists theorized that a meteoroid, ranging in size from a speck of dust to a marble, might have struck the satellite and chipped off a bit of debris that glinted a ray of sun back on the Vela's second sensor […]

4. (archaic, Shropshire, transitive) To dry; to wither.

   The sun glints grass and corn.

Translations

to flash briefly

• Bulgarian: блясвам (bg) (bljasvam), светвам (bg) (svetvam)
• Dutch: flitsen (nl)
• Finnish: välähtää (fi), välkähtää (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: glitzern (de)
• Russian: вспы́хивать (ru) (vspýxivatʹ), сверка́ть (ru) (sverkátʹ)
• Swedish: glimta (sv)

References

• Wright, Joseph (1900) The English Dialect Dictionary‎^[1], volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pages 644–645