gleam
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɡliːm/
ipa: /ɡlim/
rhymes: -iːm
Forms: form: gleams
form: gleaming
form: gleamed
form: gleamed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: gleam
form: gleam
form: gleamed
form: gleam
form: gleamest
form: gleamed
form: gleamedst
form: gleams
form: gleameth
form: gleamed
form: gleam
form: gleamed
form: gleam
form: gleamed
form: gleam
form: -
form: gleaming
form: gleamed
Etymology: From Middle English glemen (“to shine; to glance, look”) [and other forms], from glem, gleam (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Cognate with German Low German glemen (“to glow, shine”).
Senses: examples: text: Many a dry drop ſeem'd a vveeping teare, / Shed for the ſlaughtred husband by the vvife. / The red bloud reek'd to ſhevv the Painters ſtrife, / And dying eyes gleem'd forth their aſhie lights, / Like dying coales burnt out in tedious nights.
ref: 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, signature K, verso:
glosses: Chiefly in conjunction with an adverb: to cause (light) to shine.
examples: text: Quick to redeem the Prey their plighted Lords / Advance, the Palace gleams vvith ſhining Svvords.
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 563:
text: Beneath an oak he laid him down, / That in the blaze gleamed ruddy brown, […]
ref: 1813, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth”, in Rokeby; a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or John Ballantyne and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza XXXVI, page 266:
text: Green as a liquid emerald, or the hue / Of the green grape, in autumn sunshine growing! / Even as thou gleamest this golden summer's day!
ref: 1842, Mary Howitt, “The Neckar”, in Fisher’s Drawing Room Scrap-book. […], London; Paris: Fisher, Son & Co., […], →OCLC, page 34:
text: There, near the ruins of the Oscan's old Atella, rises Aversa, once the strong hold of the Norman; there gleam the columns of Capua, above the Vulturnian Stream.
ref: 1842, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter V, in Zanoni. […], volume I, London: Saunders & Otley, […], →OCLC, book the first (The Musician), pages 50–51:
text: King angels hover round thee, as thou dreamest: / Soft lashes hide they beauteous azure eye which gleamest.
ref: 1848, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, chapter I, in “A Little Dinner at Timmins’s”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume III, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1856, →OCLC, page 438:
text: In dew descending on creation's Queen, / Thou gleamedst germlike on her golden hair.
ref: 1849 November, R. F., “To the Rain. Lines Written at Rydal.”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XL, number CCXXXXIX, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC, page 497:
text: Hail, thou overshadowing mount of the Holy Ghost [i.e., Mary, mother of Jesus]. Thou gleamedst, sweet gift-bestowing mother, of the light of the sun; thou gleamedst with the insupportable fires of a most fervent charity, […]
ref: 1869, Methodius, “Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna on the Day that They Met in the Temple. The Oration Likewise Treats of the Holy Mother of God.”, in William R[obinson] Clark, transl., edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, The Writings of Methodius, Alexander of Lycopolis, Peter of Alexandria, and Several Fragments (Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325; XIV), Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, […]; London: Hamilton & Co.; Dublin: John Robertson & Co., →OCLC, paragraph XIV, page 209:
text: How the trees must temper noontide! Ah, the thicket's sudden break! / What will be the morning glory, when at dusk thus gleams the lake?
ref: 1877 September 14, Robert Browning, “La Saisiaz”, in La Saisiaz: The Two Poets of Croisic, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC, page 10:
synonyms: word: glint
word: glow
word: leam
word: sparkle
glosses: To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.
examples: text: Mr. Crawley spoke these words without hesitation, even with eloquence, standing upright, and with something of a noble anger gleaming over his poor wan face; and, I think that while speaking them, he was happier than he had been for many a long day.
ref: 1867, Anthony Trollope, “The Bishop’s Angel”, in The Last Chronicle of Barset. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 109:
synonyms: flare
flash
kindle
glosses: To be strongly but briefly apparent.
Derived terms: word: foregleam
word: gleamer
word: gleaming
word: gleamingly
word: outgleam