glance

B1 Topic:Actions & Processes

US /ɡlæns/ UK /ɡlɑːns/ See IPA manual

Freq #8415

Meanings

1

verb
To look at something quickly and briefly.

She glanced at her watch and realised she was late.
2

verb
To hit something at an angle and bounce off to the side.

The ball glanced off the post and went out of play.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Multiword verbs with glance

glance over Prepositional verb B1

to examine something quickly without reading or studying every detail

Thesaurus

Synonyms

glegglimpseshufti

Word family

Forms glancedglancesglancing

Derived forms eyeglanceforeglanceglanceabilityglanceableglancefulglancelessglancerglancingglancinglyoverglancesideglanceupglance

Related forms once-overspot squint

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

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 form…

*weng- Proto-Indo-European glenchen Middle English glacier Old French *glacia la-vul glaciēs Latin guenchir Old French *wankijan Proto-West Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# glance

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ɡlæns/
**IPA (UK):** /ɡlɑːns/
**Frequency rank:** 8415

## Meanings
1. To look at something quickly and briefly.
2. To hit something at an angle and bounce off to the side.

## Examples
- She glanced at her watch and realised she was late.
- The ball glanced off the post and went out of play.

## Synonyms
- gleg
- glimpse
- shufti

## Derived Forms
- eyeglance
- foreglance
- glanceability
- glanceable
- glanceful
- glanceless
- glancer
- glancing
- glancingly
- overglance
- sideglance
- upglance

## Related Forms
- once-over
- spot
- squint

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *weng-
- Root: glenchen
- Root: glacier
- Root: *glacia
- Root: glaciēs
- Root: guenchir
- Root: *wankijan

## 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 form…

## AI Etymology
Glance as a 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”). In current use, the main senses are “To look at something quickly and briefly” and “To hit something at an angle and bounce off to the side”.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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