gleam

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   appear briefly

   A terrible thought gleamed in my mind.

2. 2
   noun

   An appearance of light, especially one which is indistinct or small, or short-lived.

   Is not yon gleame, the ſhuddering morne that flakes, / VVith ſiluer tinctur, the eaſt vierge of heauen?

3. 3
   noun

   An indistinct sign of something; a glimpse or hint.

   The rescue workers preserved a gleam of optimism that the trapped miners might still survive.

4. 4
   noun

   A look of joy or liveliness on one's face.

   [H]is black visage lighted up with a curious, mischievous gleam.

5. 5
   noun

   Sometimes as hot gleam: a warm ray of sunlight; also, a period of warm weather, for instance, between showers of rain.

   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?

6. 6
   noun

   Brightness or shininess; radiance, splendour.

   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: […]

7. 7
   verb

   Chiefly in conjunction with an adverb: to cause (light) to shine.

   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.

8. 8
   verb

   To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.

   Quick to redeem the Prey their plighted Lords / Advance, the Palace gleams vvith ſhining Svvords.

Etymology

A variant of Middle English gleimen, gleym (“to smear; to make slimy or sticky; to fill up (the stomach); to nauseate; of a slimy or viscous substance: to be stuck together; (figuratively) to captivate, ensnare; to infect with heresy”) [and other forms], probably a blend of glet (“slimy or viscous matter produced by animals; mucus, phlegm; congestion of mucus or phlegm in the body; viscosity”), gleu (“substance used to stick things together, glue; viscous medicine made from plants”), etc. + Old Norse kleima (“to daub, smear”) (whence Old English clǣman (“to smear”)) (ultimately from Proto-Germ…