# glint
## English
### Etymology

15th century. Borrowed from Scots glint, from Middle English glenten (“to shine, gleam; flash”), probably from Old Norse *glenta, from Proto-Germanic *glantijaną, causitive of Proto-Germanic *glintaną (“to gleam, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Cognate with Danish glente, Swedish glänta, Norwegian Nynorsk gletta (“to peep, look”), Middle High German glinzen; compare also Swedish glinta (“to slip, slide, gleam, shine”), Swedish glimt (“flash, glint, glimpse”), Norwegian Nynorsk glanta, gletta (“to glide, slip”). Reintroduced into literary English by Robert Burns.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡlɪnt/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪnt

### Noun

glint (plural glints)
* A short flash of light, usually when reflected off a shiny surface.
    I saw the glint of metal as he raised the gun.
** 1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 283:To be plunged straight into the old nut and bolt shop, as was the writer's experience, during a spell of cloudless June Weather was a real hardship, and the mind kept flitting back to the glint of blue water under willow trees and the click of ball on bat on a quiet spacious greensward.
* (obsolete) A brief look; a glance.
** 1849, chapter V, in Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland, of Sunnyside. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, page 147:"My name is Elphinstone, ma'am," said the young man, and then he cleared his throat and gave a glint at Mary, and grew redder in the face than ever.
** c. 1858, Charles Selby, The Bonnie Fish Wife: An Original Musical Interlude in One Act, Lacy's Acting edition, London: Thomas Hailes Lacy, Scene II, page 15:Are ye the gentleman that’s speering for my hayreens—they’re fresh this morning—cast a glint at them, sir, and you’ll say you neever saw rubies, emeralds, and silver, and gold, sparkle sa boneely as the finny jewels that dazzle ye in this wee basket.
** 1875, Frederick Clifford, chapter XII, in The Agricultural Lock-out of 1874 […], Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, page 281:“ […] I also remember the following dialogue in the Suffolk vernacular between a neighbouring farmer and his backus ($^1$) boy :—‘I sa, Mester?’ ‘ Well, bor.’ ($^2$) ‘If thar ain't Sillett's owd razor-backed hogs broke out agin. That thar owd sarpint of a sow ha' got her snout under the gate, and lifted it off the jimmers, ($^3$) and I ketched a glint ($^4$) of the rest on 'em skrigglin' ($^5$) thar way through the shruff ($^6$) in the hedge holl ($^7$) and making another gap right atwin ($^8$) the stub-apple ($^9$) and the touch-wood ($^{10}$) tree, and tha ha' bin' a pamplin' ($^{11}$) all over the land, and rootin ($^{12}$) up our taters, and not one on 'em ringled ($^{13}$). Mester, I think we'd better pound 'em.'” ($^{14}$)

#### Derived terms

* glint in the milkman's eye
* sunglint

#### Translations
### Adjective

glint (comparative more glint, superlative most glint)
* (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)
* (intransitive) To flash or gleam briefly.
    A wedding ring glinted on her finger.
** 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 110:Thor glared at him [...] what little light there was in the place mustered its forces briefly to glint menacingly off the horns of his helmet.
* (intransitive, now uncommon) 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'
** 1847 November 6, “Lilly Begg: A Tale of the Times of the Covenant”, in Hogg's Weekly Instructor, volume VI, number 141, page 168, column 1:There was Clavers and six wild dragoons standin’ ranged in a raw, wi’ their muskets in hand, and a form kneelin’ on the grass afore them. I saw the flash o’ the guns, and as I turned to glint at the mangled corpse, oh, mither!
* (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 […]
* (archaic, Shropshire, transitive) To dry; to wither.
    The sun glints grass and corn.

#### Derived terms

* aglint
* glinty

#### Translations
### References

* Wright, Joseph (1900) The English Dialect Dictionary‎, volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pages 644–645
* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “glint”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 20 January 2017: “from Scottish, where apparently it survived as an alteration of glent [...] Reintroduced into literary English by Burns.”