glance
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
biology
cricket
games
hobbies
ichthyology
lifestyle
natural-sciences
sports
zoology
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
Inflected forms:
form: glances
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: glancing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: glanced
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: glanced
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: glance
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: glance
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: glanced
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: glance
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: glancest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: glanced
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: glancedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: glances
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: glanceth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: glanced
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: glance
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: glanced
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: glance
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: glanced
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: glance
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: glancing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: glanced
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: glaunce
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: glances
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: glaunce
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To turn (one's eyes or look) at something, often briefly.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Deare heart forbeare to glance thine eye aſide, / What needſt thou wound with cunning when thy might / Is more then my ore-preſt defence can bide?
Vivian glanced a look, which would have been annihilation to any one, not a freeholder of five hundred acres.
He, however, blenched not a step, but glancing his severe eye round the group, which half encompassed him, at last bent it sternly on Sir Edmund Andros.
gloss: To look briefly at (something).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: A horseman rode up as he spoke, and gave a letter. Claverhouse glanced it over, laughed scornfully, bade him tell his master to send his prisoners to Edinburgh, for there was no answer; […]
gloss: To cause (light) to gleam or sparkle.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The bink, with its usual arrangement of pewter and earthenware, which was most strictly and critically clean, glanced back the flame of the lamp merrily from one side of the apartment.
gloss: To cause (something) to move obliquely.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
transitive
examples: One morning as I lay in my bed, a ſtrong motion was ſuddenly glanced into my thoughts of going to London; I aroſe and betook me to the way, […]
[S]hould we croſs them, tho they ſhould ſee Shoals of Fiſh, or Turtle, or the like, they will purpoſely ſtrike their Harpoons and Turtle-irons aſide, or ſo glance them as to kill nothing.
gloss: To cause (something) to move obliquely.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
transitive
examples: Doncaster paid the price two minutes later when [Kevin] Doyle sent [Stephen] Hunt away down the left and his pinpoint cross was glanced in by Fletcher for his sixth goal of the season.
gloss: To cause (something) to move obliquely.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
transitive
gloss: To communicate (something) using the eyes.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: [T]here his Eye took diſtant Aim, / And glanc'd Reſpect to that bright Dame, […]
As if there were no glowing eye i’ the world, / To glance straight inspiration to my brain, / No glorious heart to give mine twice the beats!
gloss: To touch (something) lightly or obliquely; to graze.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Alone, it was the ſubiect of my Theame: / In company I often glanced it: / Still did I tell him, it was vilde and bad.
Afterwards I tooke a walke in yᵉ King’s gardens, where I observ’d that the Mall gos the whole square thereof next yᵉ wall, and bends with an angle so made as to glace [glance] yᵉ hall; the angle is of stone.
gloss: To make an incidental or passing reflection, often unfavourably, on (a topic); also, to make (an incidental or passing reflection, often unfavourable).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: I will this Night, / in ſeuerall Hands, in at his Windowes throw, / As if they came from ſeuerall Citizens, / Writings, all tending to the great opinion / That Rome holds of his Name: wherein obſcurely / Cæſars Ambition ſhall be glanced at.
And therefore in order to promote ſo uſeful a Work, I will here take Leave to glance a few Innuendo’s, that may be of great Aſſiſtance to thoſe ſublime Spirits, who ſhall be appointed to labor in a univerſal Comment upon this wonderful Diſcourſe.
[T]hey rush upon him, and he narrowly escapes killing or ducking, for having ventured to glance a censure at the General.
gloss: To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
intransitive
examples: A has a little gald me I confeſſe: / And as the Ieſt did glaunce awaie from me, […]
I am glad yet your arrow hath glanced.
On mee the Curſe aſlope / Glanc'd on the ground, with labour I muſt earne / My bread; what harm? Idleneſs had bin worſe; […]
So that the more friends and relations I have, and the dearer and nearer they are, the more croſſes I have, by participating theirs: and every bitter Arrow that wounds any of them, glanceth upon me, and makes my wounds the more by how much the more friends and relations I have; and makes them deeper, by how much the nearer or dearer thoſe friends or relations are to me.
[F]rom Cteſippus’ arm the ſpear elanc’d / On good Eumæus’ ſhield and ſhoulder glanc’d; […]
But the object of this violence was so ready to defend himself by striking upon the assailant's hand, that the blow only glanced on the bone, and scarce drew blood.
I started—I dropped the glass—the fluid flamed and glanced along the floor, while I felt Cornelius’s gripe at my throat, as he shrieked aloud, “Wretch! you have destroyed the labour of my life!”
gloss: To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
intransitive
gloss: To strike and fly off in an oblique direction; to dart aside.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
intransitive
examples: [Page 493] [G]eneral impressions of glancing frequency in Acanthochromis juveniles have suggested that the glancing off parents occurs most often in young juveniles and appears to diminish in frequency as juveniles age […] [Page 494] The unusually high variance in lagoon stage-3 juveniles was caused by one relatively small brood (14) that glanced 36 times in one 30-min observation period.
gloss: Of light, etc.: to gleam, to sparkle.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: She watched the spring sunlight glancing on the water of the pond.
[T]hou [God] didſt call, thou didſt cry, thou didſt break my Deafneſs, thou glancedſt, thou didſt ſhine, thou chaſeſt away my Darkneſs.
From art, from nature, from the schools, / Let random influences glance, / Like light in many a shiver’d lance, / That breaks about the dappled pools: […]
gloss: Of a thing: to move in a way that catches light, and flash or glitter.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: In thee freſh brooks, and ſoft ſtreams glance / And all my fountains clear.
[A] driving daſhing rain, / Peal upon peal redoubling all around, / Shakes it again and faſter to the ground, / Now flaſhing wide, now glancing as in play, / Swift beyond thought the light’nings dart away; […]
Were there no stockings of Zetland wool soft enough for these pretty feet and ancles, that glance so white in the moon-beam?
[A]n insane light glanced in her heavy black eyes.
[H]e gallop’d up / To join them, glancing like a dragon-fly / In summer suit and silks of holiday.
[…] those that walked armed before the Witches’ booths, six in company, harnessed as for battle in byrnies of shining bronze, with greaves and shields of bronze and helms that glanced in the sun.
gloss: Often followed by at: of the eyes or a person: to look briefly.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: She glanced at her reflection as she passed the mirror.
The Poets eye, in a fine frenzy, rolling, doth glance / From heauen to earth, from earth to heauen.
Hither come—thou once of men, / Blest with pure science from above; / Thy spirit now returns again / To its native realms of love. / […] / And as thou glancest hence to there, / Remember that it gave thee birth, / And still illumine it from here.
A bright beautiful face glanced out at the window, and vanished—a light footstep was heard—and Mary came tripping forth to meet us.
The young lady took up the paper, and turned it over and over, […] when, suddenly, her eye glanced on something which made her change colour, […]
His thoughts glanced at all the neighbours who had made any remarks, or asked any questions which he might now regard as a ground of suspicion.
She was deadly pale, and breathing fast, glancing furtively towards the bed, as she fastened her mantle, to see if she had disturbed me.
gloss: Often followed by at: of a topic: to make an incidental or passing reflection on, often unfavourably; to allude to; to hint at.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: Is’t not enough thou haſt ſuborn’d theſe women, / To accuſe this worthy man? but in foule mouth, / And in the witneſſe of his proper eare, / To call him villaine; and then to glance from him, / To th’ Duke himſelfe, to taxe him with Iniuſtice?
He could never procure himself to be chosen fellow; for it was objected against him, that he had written verses, and particularly some, wherein he glanced at a certain reverend doctor famous for dulness; […]
Francesca followed, reluctant enough in her secret; for though she would not have admitted it even to herself, she did shrink from the infliction of the inane solemnities with which her father garnished his discourse—to say nothing of the ungracious reflections which so often glanced at herself.
You do not appear to me to recognize the gravity of your situation, or you would be more careful not to pejorate the same by words which glance upon the purity of justice.
gloss: Followed by by: to pass near without coming into contact.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: Some have digged deep, yet glanced by the Royal Vein; and a Man may come unto the Pericardium, but not the Heart of Truth.
gloss: To move quickly; to dart, to shoot.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: Why is my verſe ſo barren of new pride? / So far from variation or quicke change? / Why with the time do I not glance aſide / To new found methods, and to compounds ſtrange?
[D]are / They [souls] paſſe the outſide and venture ſo farre / As into the depth of the ſouls ſubſtance? / […] / If that; the object gone, away thoſe forms do glance.
And all along the Forum, and up the Sacred Street, / His vulture eye pursued the trip of those small glancing feet.
gloss: A brief or cursory look.
pos: noun
tags: also
countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: Fie, fie, vnknit that thretaning vnkinde brow, / And dart not ſcornefull glances from thoſe eies, / To wound thy Lord, thy King, thy Gouernour.
Hard to ſeeme wonne: but I was wonne my Lord / With the firſt glance; […]
[H]is ſupercilious glances grew humbled, yea, his dazeling ſplendor (eclipſt in the ſetting [i.e., death] of his Maſter) becomes quickly darkned: […]
[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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Strangers in the night exchanging glances / Wondering in the night, what were the chances?
gloss: A quick movement that catches light, and causes a flash or glitter; also, the flash or glitter.
pos: noun
tags: also
countable
figuratively
uncountable
examples: 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: […]
[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, […]
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.
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?
[…] I likena cummers that can come and gae like a glance of the sun, or the whip of a whirlwind.
gloss: A stroke in which the ball is hit with a bat held in a slanted manner.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: An act of striking and flying off in an oblique direction; a deflection.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
gloss: An incidental or passing allusion or thought, often unfavourable, expressed on a topic.
pos: noun
tags: countable
figuratively
obsolete
uncountable
examples: [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.
[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.
Synonyms: glance
gleg
glimpse
shufti
Related words: once-over
squint
spot
Derived words: foreglance
glanceability
glanceable
glance away
glance off
glance over
glancer
glancing
glancingly
overglance
upglance
at a glance
at first glance
eyeglance
glanceful
glanceless
leg glance
sideglance
steal a glance
wood glance
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: liikuttaa vinoon
lang: Bulgarian
word: рикоширам
roman: rikoširam
lang: Czech
word: škrtnout (o povrch)
lang: Finnish
word: pompata
lang: Irish
word: scinn
lang: Macedonian
word: рикошети́ра
roman: rikošetíra
lang: Macedonian
word: се о́дбива
roman: se ódbiva
lang: Māori
word: hohoni
lang: Māori
word: honi
lang: Finnish
word: lyödä maila vinossa
lang: Finnish
word: vihjailla
lang: Finnish
word: vihjaista
lang: Finnish
word: vihjata
lang: French
word: faire allusion