glance
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɡlɑːns/
ipa: /ɡlæns/
rhymes: -ɑːns
rhymes: -æns
Forms: form: glances
form: glaunce
Etymology: The verb is derived from Late Middle English glenchen (“of a blow: to strike obliquely, glance; of a person: to turn quickly aside, dodge”) [and other forms], a blend of:
* Old French glacier, glachier, glaichier (“to slide; to slip”) (whence also Middle English glacen (“of a blow: to strike obliquely, glance; to glide”)), from glace (“frozen water, ice”) (from Vulgar Latin *glacia, from Latin glaciēs (“ice”), of uncertain origin, + -ier (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs); and
* Old French guenchir, ganchir (“to avoid; to change direction; to elude, evade”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *wankijan (“to move aside; to stagger, sway; to wave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weng- (“to bend”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
The sense "to look briefly (at something)" is probably due to partial conflation with Middle English glenten (“to look askance”)—the ancestor of English glint—in the Middle English period. This conflation may also have reinforced the medial -n-. See English glint
Senses: examples: text: Fie, fie, vnknit that thretaning vnkinde brow, / And dart not ſcornefull glances from thoſe eies, / To wound thy Lord, thy King, thy Gouernour.
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 229, column 1:
text: Hard to ſeeme wonne: but I was wonne my Lord / With the firſt glance; […]
ref: c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
text: [H]is ſupercilious glances grew humbled, yea, his dazeling ſplendor (eclipſt in the ſetting [i.e., death] of his Maſter) becomes quickly darkned: […]
ref: 1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book II, page 206:
text: [H]ere paſſion firſt I felt, / Commotion ſtrange, in all enjoyments elſe / Superiour and unmov'd, here onely weake / Againſt the charm of Beauties powerful glance.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1167–1170:
text: How fleet is a glance of a mind! / Compar’d with the ſpeed of its flight, / The tempeſt itſelf lags behind, / And the ſwift winged arrows of light.
ref: 1782, William Cowper, “Verses, Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk, during His Solitary Abode in the Island of Juan Fernandez”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 308:
text: He passed the papers through his hands, turning some over with a hasty glance, and dwelling on others as if their contents had been of the last importance.
ref: 1828 May 15, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. […] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, page 275:
text: As he threw his head back in the chair, his glance happened to rest upon a bell, a disused bell, that hung in the room, and communicated for some purpose now forgotten with a chamber in the highest story of the building.
ref: 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 24:
text: Warwick left the undertaker’s shop and retraced his steps until he had passed the lawyer’s office, toward which he threw an affectionate glance.
ref: 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, “A Stranger from South Carolina”, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:
text: But Richmond, his grandfather’s darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance, appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.
ref: 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax, 1st Australian edition, London; Melbourne, Vic.: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 3:
text: Strangers in the night exchanging glances / Wondering in the night, what were the chances?
ref: 1966, “Strangers in the Night”, Charles Singleton, Eddie Snyder (lyrics), Bert Kaempfert (music), performed by Frank Sinatra:
glosses: A brief or cursory look.
examples: text: The ayre here is freſh and ſweet in the morning and towards Sunſet, but in the Sunnes perpendicular glances, wee found it hot and raging: […]
ref: 1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book II, page 193:
text: [E]ach Creek & Bay / With Frie innumerable ſwarme, and Shoales / Of Fiſh that with thir Finns and ſhining Scales / Glide under the green Wave, […] ſporting with quick glance / Show to the Sun thir wav’d coats dropt with Gold, […]
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 399–402 and 405–406:
text: With winged expedition / Swift as the lightning glance he executes / His errand on the wicked, who ſurpris’d / Loſe their defence diſtracted and amaz’d.
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, pages 76–77, lines 294–297:
text: Is it the lightning’s quivering glance / That on the thicket streams, / Or do they flash on spear and lance / The sun’s retiring beams?
ref: 1810, Walter Scott, “Canto VI. The Guard-room.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza XV (BATTLE OF BEAL’ AN DUINE), page 264:
text: […] I likena cummers that can come and gae like a glance of the sun, or the whip of a whirlwind.
ref: 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in The Pirate. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 194:
glosses: A quick movement that catches light, and causes a flash or glitter; also, the flash or glitter.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A stroke in which the ball is hit with a bat held in a slanted manner.
topics: biology
ichthyology
natural-sciences
zoology
glosses: Of certain juvenile fish, chiefly of the Cichlidae family: an act of rapidly touching the side of its parent's body, usually to feed on mucus.
glosses: An act of striking and flying off in an oblique direction; a deflection.
examples: text: [W]hen Marcus Philoſophus came in, Sylenus was grauelled, and out of countenance, not knowing where to carpe at him, ſaue at the laſt, he gaue a glaunce at his patience towards his wife.
ref: 1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC, folio 35, verso:
text: [A]lbeit in that brief diſcourſe I made concerning the Red ſea and Carmania where I made mention of the Burial-place of Erythreus there are ſome glances at it; I ſhall nevertheleſs (as in the moſt proper place) ſpeak a little further upon that ſubject.
ref: 1677, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Divers Parts of Africa, and Asia the Great. […], 4th edition, London: […] R. Everingham, for R. Scot, T. Basset, J[ohn] Wright, and R. Chiswell, →OCLC, page 349:
glosses: An incidental or passing allusion or thought, often unfavourable, expressed on a topic.
Derived terms: at a glance
at first glance
eyeglance
glanceful
glanceless
leg glance
sideglance
steal a glance
upglance
wood glance