glint

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A short flash of light, usually when reflected off a shiny surface.

   I saw the glint of metal as he raised the gun.

2. 2
   noun

   A brief look; a glance.

   "My name is Elphinstone, ma'am," said the young man, and then he cleared his throat and gave a glint at Mary, and grew redder in the face than ever.

3. 3
   adj

   Not sharp; dull.

   The knife is glint.

4. 4
   verb

   To flash or gleam briefly.

   A wedding ring glinted on her finger.

5. 5
   verb

   To glance; to peep forth, as a flower from the bud; to glitter.

   The rising sun owre Galston muirs, / Wi' glorious light was glintin'

6. 6
   verb

   To cause to flash or gleam; to reflect.

   The scientists theorized that a meteoroid, ranging in size from a speck of dust to a marble, might have struck the satellite and chipped off a bit of debris that glinted a ray of sun back on the Vela's second sensor […]

7. 7
   verb

   To dry; to wither.

   The sun glints grass and corn.

8. 8
   noun

   a spatially localized brightness

Etymology

15th century. Borrowed from Scots glint, from Middle English glenten (“to shine, gleam; flash”), probably from Old Norse *glenta, from Proto-Germanic *glantijaną, causitive of Proto-Germanic *glintaną (“to gleam, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Cognate with Danish glente, Swedish glänta, Norwegian Nynorsk gletta (“to peep, look”), Middle High German glinzen; compare also Swedish glinta (“to slip, slide, gleam, shine”), Swedish glimt (“flash, glint, glimpse”), Norwegian Nynorsk glanta, gletta (“to glide, slip”). Reintroduced into literary English by Robert Burns.