glitter

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A bright, sparkling light; shininess or brilliance.

   As yet there had been no symptom of the news having any better foundation than in the fears of those who brought it, but The Boot had not been deserted five minutes, when there appeared, coming across the fields, a body of men who, it was easy to see, by the glitter of their arms and ornaments in the sun, and by their orderly and regular mode of advancing.

2. 2
   verb

   To sparkle with light; to shine with a brilliant and broken light or showy luster; to gleam.

   A glittering sword.

3. 3
   verb

   To be showy, specious, or striking, and hence attractive.

   The glittering scenes of a court.

4. 4
   noun

   the quality of shining with a bright reflected light

Simplified etymology

Glitter entered Middle English from Old Norse glitra, probably blended with Old English gliddrian, “to slip” or “be unstable.” The derivative glitzy appeared in the United States in the 1960s, influenced by glitter and probably by ritzy and perhaps German glitzerig, “glittering.”

From Middle English gliteren, from Old Norse glitra, from Proto-Germanic *glitrōną (“to glitter”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley-.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary