glimpse

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"I have no reason to doubt it, yet it seems so strange, that I can scarcely believe the fact that I am the grandson of the old man, and that the beautiful girl of whom we caught a glimpse is my sister."

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun A brief, incomplete view or look.
  2. noun Archaic A brief flash of light.
  3. transitive verb To obtain a brief, incomplete view of.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

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Examples (50)

  • They seemed shy and reserved, and when a glimpse could be had of their faces they appeared pale, even of a deathly hue. —  Folk-Lore and Legends: North American Indian
  • The wood, selected for its rare loveliness, the finished workmanship, and charming rose-coloured varnish, render these works of art of which one glimpse is a never-fading memory. —  The Violin Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators
  • Coils of hose and buckets, etcetera, were seen here and there in readiness, while in an interior room a glimpse might be had of gleaming brass helmets, which hung in a row on the wall, each with an axe pendant below it; and, opposite to these, a row of dry boots arranged on pegs with their soles to the ceiling The two boys lingered about the station admiring all this, and commenting in their own peculiar fashion on men and things, sometimes approvingly, often critically, and now and then disparagingly. —  Life in the Red Brigade London Fire Brigade
  • The Baron stood trembling and quaking in his boots, every moment expecting to be discovered, while he felt sure that the face of which he had caught a glimpse was no other than that of the jealous rival He listened anxiously; he could hear the cracking of the boughs, and then the sound of footsteps approaching. —  Voyages and Travels of Count Funnibos and Baron Stilkin
  • She had a glimpse--which she pretended not to have seen--of the Merry Zingara crumbling in a passion of regretful sobs to the floor. —  The Madigans
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

vision ·  sight ·  gleam ·  hint ·  impression ·  outline ·  description ·  recollection ·  flash ·  appearance ·  midst ·  possession

Used in the same contextWord Family

glimpse:   glimpses ·  glimpsed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English glimsen, to glisten, glance; see ghel-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English glimse (the p being excrescent), from Middle English glimsen (in verbal noun glimsing, spelled glymsyng) = Middle High German glimsen, German dial. glumsen, glumpsen, glumbsen, glimmer, glow; with verb-formative -s, from the root of glim, glimmer: see glim, glimmer.
  2. from glimpse, v.
 

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/glɪmps/
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