gleam
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English glem, gleam, gleme (“shaft of light; part of a comet’s tail; reflected sparkle; dawn; daylight; radiance (physical or spiritual); something fleeting”), from Old English glǣm (“gleam”), from Proto-Germanic *glaimiz (“brightness; splendour”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”).
Cognates
* German Low German Gleem (“shine, luster, gloss”)
* Faroese glæma (“gleam, glimmer”)
* Old High German glīmen (“to glow, shine”); gleimo, glīmo (“glowworm”) (Middle High German glīme, gleime)
* Old Saxon glīmo (“brightness”)
Inflected forms:
form: gleams
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: gleams
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: gleaming
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: gleamed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: gleamed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: gleam
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: gleam
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: gleamed
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: gleam
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: gleamest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: gleamed
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: gleamedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: gleams
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: gleameth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: gleamed
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: gleam
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: gleamed
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: gleam
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: gleamed
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: gleam
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: gleaming
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: gleamed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: An appearance of light, especially one which is indistinct or small, or short-lived.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Is not yon gleame, the ſhuddering morne that flakes, / VVith ſiluer tinctur, the eaſt vierge of heauen?
Sailing between Madagaſcar and Zeyloon (at or Near this place) in a dark night ſuddenly there happened a gleam of light, ſo bright that he could eaſily read by it. Amazed he vvas at this alteration; but at length perceived it vvas occaſioned by a number of Fiſh, vvhoſe glittering ſhells made that artificial light in the night, and gave the Sea a vvhite repercuſſion: […]
VVhat a gloom hangs all around! the dying lamp feebly emits a yellovv gleam, no ſound is heard but of the chiming clock, or the diſtant vvatch-dog.
Ah! then, if mine had been the Painter's hand, / To express what then I saw; and add the gleam, / The light that never was, on sea or land, / The consecration, and the Poet's dream; // I would have planted thee, thou hoary Pile! / Amid a world how different from this!
But a faint and partial gleam of sunshine broke through the aperture, and made yet more cheerless the dreary aspect and gloomy appurtenances of the cell.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height / A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
And some of the soldiers since declare / That the gleam of his old white hat afar, / Like the crested plume of the brave Navarre, / That day was their oriflamme of war.
gloss: An indistinct sign of something; a glimpse or hint.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: The rescue workers preserved a gleam of optimism that the trapped miners might still survive.
On the fifteenth of June a gleam of hope appeared.
gloss: A bright, but intermittent or short-lived, appearance of something.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
gloss: A look of joy or liveliness on one's face.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: [H]is black visage lighted up with a curious, mischievous gleam.
Sunny, thank you for that smile upon your face / Sunny, thank you, thank you for the gleam that flows its grace
Got no money to spend / not a dime or a friend / Yet things are gonna go my way / Got the sun in the sky, and a gleam in my eye / Not gonna think of yesterday
gloss: Sometimes as hot gleam: a warm ray of sunlight; also, a period of warm weather, for instance, between showers of rain.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
examples: The Pepper-trees live in Italie; the ſhrub of Caſia or the Canell likevviſe in the Northerly regions; the Frankincenſe tree alſo hath been knovvne to live in Lydia: but vvhere vvere the hote gleames of the Sunne to be found in thoſe regions, either to drie up the vvateriſh humor of the one, or to concot and thicken the gumme and roſin of the other?
[W]e felt a brisk gale coming from off the Coaſt of America, but ſo violently hot, that vve thought it came from ſome burning Mountain on the ſhore, and vvas like the heat from the mouth of an Oven. Juſt ſuch another gleam I felt one afternoon alſo, as I lay anchor at the Groin in July 1694. it came vvith a Southerly VVind: both theſe vvere follovved by a Thunder-ſhovver.
gloss: Brightness or shininess; radiance, splendour.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
uncountable
examples: Then vvas the faire Dodonian tree far ſeene, / Vpon ſeauen hills to ſpread his gladſome gleame, / And conquerours bedecked vvith his greene, / Along the bancks of the Auſonian ſtreame: […]
In the clear azure gleam the flocks are ſeen, / And floating foreſts paint the vvaves vvith green.
gloss: Chiefly in conjunction with an adverb: to cause (light) to shine.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Quick to redeem the Prey their plighted Lords / Advance, the Palace gleams vvith ſhining Svvords.
Beneath an oak he laid him down, / That in the blaze gleamed ruddy brown, […]
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!
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.
King angels hover round thee, as thou dreamest: / Soft lashes hide they beauteous azure eye which gleamest.
In dew descending on creation's Queen, / Thou gleamedst germlike on her golden hair.
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, […]
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?
gloss: To be strongly but briefly apparent.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: 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.
Derived words: agleam
gleamless
gleamy
weather-gleam
foregleam
gleamer
gleaming
gleamingly
outgleam
Translations: