Log in or Sign up

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To shine with a subdued flickering light. See Synonyms at flash.
  2. v. To appear as a wavering or flickering image, as in a reflection on water or through heat waves in air.
  3. n. A flickering or tremulous light; a glimmer.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To shine with a veiled, tremulous light; gleam faintly.
  2. n. A faint or veiled and tremulous gleam or shining.
  3. n. A workman in cabinet-work or other fine woodwork who fills up cracks or makes parts fit by the insertion of shims or thin pieces.
  4. In mech., to correct an inequality by inserting a thin slip or shim.

Wiktionary

  1. v. To shine with a veiled, tremulous, or intermittent light; to gleam faintly; to glisten; to glimmer.
  2. n. A faint or veiled and tremulous gleam or shining; a glimmer.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To shine with a tremulous or intermittent light; to shine faintly; to gleam; to glisten; to glimmer.
  2. n. A faint, tremulous light; a gleaming; a glimmer.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. shine with a weak or fitful light
  2. v. give off a shimmering reflection, as of silk
  3. n. a weak and tremulous light

Etymologies

  1. Middle English shimeren, from Old English scimerian.

Examples

  • “This dreamy shimmer is a tension that both sustains the poem’s idealism and exposes the ideological bind of proffering poetry as the thing to be ‘done’ in political crisis”

    Shelley, Adorno, and the Scandal of Commited Art

  • “As tiny, pretty mega-talent Cher Lloyd stepped on to the X Factor stage last month in shimmer foundation, squashed-spider eyelashes and over-pruned brows, only for Louis Walsh to trill, You're 16?”

    The Guardian: Slap shtick: How not to put on make-up

  • “They call it a "shimmer" - a glint, a glitter, a glisten.”

    The Guardian World News

  • “You type in -war" (knocking the errant hair aside as you strike the A), and watch the word shimmer like a line of phosphorescent battle dust on the PC screen.”

    Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas

  • “I used a creamier face and body shimmer, which is easier to work with than watery/gel-based products, which are good for the body but hard to work with on the face.”

    Simon & Schuster: Best in Beauty

  • “The texture of the lipstick is lovely, not too opaque and with slight "wet" shimmer, which is exactly what I like.”

    Archive 2009-03-01

  • “Galead saw the Stone set in the sword shimmer and pale.”

    Last Sword Of Power

  • “In order to sell flats to people who might not like the idea of council estates, the developers wanted what the architects call "shimmer".”

    The Guardian World News

  • “Giant honeybees are known to flip their bellies up en masse to create a giant wave called a shimmer, somewhat akin to humans rhythmically throwing their hands in the air in a wave at a football game.”

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines

  • “Can you see in the upper right hand corner how the snowflakes have a kind of shimmer to them?”

    It's beginning to look a lot like...

Show 10 more examples...

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘shimmer’.

Comments

No comments yet...

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

‘shimmer’ has been looked up 2282 times, loved by 8 people, added to 81 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 14.