gleam
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See also: glean
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɡliːm/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɡlim/
Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -iːm
Etymology 1
From Middle English glem, gleam, gleme (“shaft of light; part of a comet’s tail; reflected sparkle; dawn; daylight; radiance (physical or spiritual); something fleeting”),[1] from Old English glǣm (“gleam”), from Proto-Germanic *glaimiz (“brightness; splendour”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”).[2]
cognates
- Old High German glīmen (“to glow, shine”); gleimo, glīmo (“glowworm”) (Middle High German glīme, gleime)
- Old Saxon glīmo (“brightness”)
Noun
gleam (countable and uncountable, plural gleams)
- (countable) An appearance of light, especially one which is indistinct or small, or short-lived.
- Synonym: (Britain, dialectal) leam
- c. 1599 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], The History of Antonio and Mellida. The First Part. , London: for Mathewe Lownes, and Thomas Fisher, , published 1602, →OCLC, Act III, signature D4, verso:
- Is not yon gleame, the ſhuddering morne that flakes, / VVith ſiluer tinctur, the eaſt vierge of heauen?
- 1677, Tho Herbert, Some Yeares Travels into Divers Parts of Africa, and Asia the Great. , 4th edition, London: R. Everingham, for R. Scot, T. Basset, J Wright, and R. Chiswell, →OCLC, page 30:
- Sailing between Madagaſcar and Zeyloon (at or Near this place) in a dark night ſuddenly there happened a gleam of light, ſo bright that he could eaſily read by it. Amazed he vvas at this alteration; but at length perceived it vvas occaſioned by a number of Fiſh, vvhoſe glittering ſhells made that artificial light in the night, and gave the Sea a vvhite repercuſſion: […]
- 1760, Oliver Goldsmith, “Letter CXIV. To the Same .”, in The Citizen of the World; or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, , volume II, London: or the author; and sold by J. Newbery and W. Bristow, ; J. Leake and W. Frederick, ; B. Collins, ; and A. M. Smart and Co. , published 1762, →OCLC, page 210:
- VVhat a gloom hangs all around! the dying lamp feebly emits a yellovv gleam, no ſound is heard but of the chiming clock, or the diſtant vvatch-dog.
- 1807, William Wordsworth, “Elegiac Stanzas, ”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume II, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, , →OCLC, page 142:
- Ah! then, if mine had been the Painter's hand, / To express what then I saw; and add the gleam, / The light that never was, on sea or land, / The consecration, and the Poet's dream; // I would have planted thee, thou hoary Pile! / Amid a world how different from this!
- 1838, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The Novice”, in “Leila; or, The Siege of Granada”, in Leila; or, The Siege of Granada: And Calderon, the Courtier. , London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans; Paris: Delloy and Co., →OCLC, book V, page 238:
- But a faint and partial gleam of sunshine broke through the aperture, and made yet more cheerless the dreary aspect and gloomy appurtenances of the cell.
- 1860, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Landlord’s Tale. Paul Revere’s Ride.”, in Tales of a Wayside Inn, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 22:
- And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height / A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
- 1868 May 9, Fr Bret Harte, “John Burns of Gettysburg”, in Littel’s Living Age, volume IX (4th Series; volume XCVII overall), number 1249, Boston, Mass.: Littel & Gay, →OCLC, page 322, column 2:
- And some of the soldiers since declare / That the gleam of his old white hat afar, / Like the crested plume of the brave Navarre, / That day was their oriflamme of war.
- (countable, figuratively)
- An indistinct sign of something; a glimpse or hint.
- Synonyms: flicker, glimmer, trace
- The rescue workers preserved a gleam of optimism that the trapped miners might still survive.
- 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 228:
- On the fifteenth of June a gleam of hope appeared.
- A bright, but intermittent or short-lived, appearance of something.
- A look of joy or liveliness on one's face.
- 1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Discovery”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume I, Boston, Mass.: John P Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC, page 72:
- is black visage lighted up with a curious, mischievous gleam.
- 1963 (date written), Bobby Hebb (lyrics and music), “Sunny”, published June 1966:
- Sunny, thank you for that smile upon your face / Sunny, thank you, thank you for the gleam that flows its grace
- An indistinct sign of something; a glimpse or hint.
- (obsolete)
- (countable) Sometimes as hot gleam: a warm ray of sunlight; also, a period of warm weather, for instance, between showers of rain.
- 1601, C Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “ Of Certaine Prodigious Trees, and Presages Observed by Them. By what Meanes Trees Grow of Their Owne Accord. That All Plants Grow Not Every Where: And what Trees They be that are Appropriate to Certaine Regions, and are Not Elsewhere to be Found.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. , 1st tome, London: Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 478:
- 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?
- 1697, William Dampier, chapter XIX, in A New Voyage Round the World. , London: James Knapton, , →OCLC, page 530:
- e felt a brisk gale coming from off the Coaſt of America, but ſo violently hot, that vve thought it came from ſome burning Mountain on the ſhore, and vvas like the heat from the mouth of an Oven. Juſt ſuch another gleam I felt one afternoon alſo, as I lay anchor at the Groin in July 1694. it came vvith a Southerly VVind: both theſe vvere follovved by a Thunder-ſhovver.
- (uncountable) Brightness or shininess; radiance, splendour.
- 1591, Joachim du Bellay, “The Visions of Bellay”, in Ed Sp[enser], transl., Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. , London: William Ponsonbie, , →OCLC, part 5, signature Y3, recto:
- 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: […]
- 1713, Pope, Windsor-Forest. , London: Bernard Lintott , →OCLC, page 60:
- In the clear azure gleam the flocks are ſeen, / And floating foreſts paint the vvaves vvith green.
- (countable) Sometimes as hot gleam: a warm ray of sunlight; also, a period of warm weather, for instance, between showers of rain.
Derived terms
Translations
indistinct or small, or short-lived, appearance of light
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bright, but intermittent or short-lived, appearance of something
Etymology 2
From Middle English glemen (“to shine; to glance, look”) ,[3] from glem, gleam (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).[4][5]
Verb
gleam (third-person singular simple present gleams, present participle gleaming, simple past and past participle gleamed)
- (transitive) Chiefly in conjunction with an adverb: to cause (light) to shine.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, , →OCLC, signature K, verso:
- 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.
- (intransitive)
- To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.
- 1700, Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC, page 563:
- Quick to redeem the Prey their plighted Lords / Advance, the Palace gleams vvith ſhining Svvords.
- 1813, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth”, in Rokeby; a Poem, Edinburgh: or John Ballantyne and Co. ; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., , →OCLC, stanza XXXVI, page 266:
- Beneath an oak he laid him down, / That in the blaze gleamed ruddy brown, […]
- 1842, Mary Howitt, “The Neckar”, in Fisher’s Drawing Room Scrap-book. , London, Paris: Fisher, Son & Co., , →OCLC, page 34:
- Green as a liquid emerald, or the hue / Of the green grape, in autumn sunshine growing! / Even as thou gleamest this golden summer's day!
- 1842, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter V, in Zanoni. , volume I, London: Saunders & Otley, , →OCLC, book the first (The Musician), pages 50–51:
- There, near the ruins of the Oscan's old Atella, rises Aversa, once the strong hold of the Norman; there gleam the columns of Capua, above the Vulturnian Stream.
- 1848, W M Thackeray, chapter I, in “A Little Dinner at Timmins’s”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume III, London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1856, →OCLC, page 438:
- King angels hover round thee, as thou dreamest: / Soft lashes hide they beauteous azure eye which gleamest.
- 1849 November, R. F., “To the Rain. Lines Written at Rydal.”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XL, number CCXXXXIX, London: John W Parker, , →OCLC, page 497:
- In dew descending on creation's Queen, / Thou gleamedst germlike on her golden hair.
- 1869, Methodius, “Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna on the Day that They Met in the Temple. The Oration Likewise Treats of the Holy Mother of God.”, in William R Clark, transl., edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, The Writings of Methodius, Alexander of Lycopolis, Peter of Alexandria, and Several Fragments (Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325; XIV), Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, ; London: Hamilton & Co.; Dublin: John Robertson & Co., →OCLC, paragraph XIV, page 209:
- Hail, thou overshadowing mount of the Holy Ghost [i.e., Mary, mother of Jesus]. Thou gleamedst, sweet gift-bestowing mother, of the light of the sun; thou gleamedst with the insupportable fires of a most fervent charity, […]
- 1877 September 14, Robert Browning, “La Saisiaz”, in La Saisiaz: The Two Poets of Croisic, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., , published 1878, →OCLC, page 10:
- How the trees must temper noontide! Ah, the thicket's sudden break! / What will be the morning glory, when at dusk thus gleams the lake?
- (figuratively) To be strongly but briefly apparent.
- 1867, Anthony Trollope, “The Bishop’s Angel”, in The Last Chronicle of Barset. , volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., , →OCLC, page 109:
- Mr. Crawley spoke these words without hesitation, even with eloquence, standing upright, and with something of a noble anger gleaming over his poor wan face; and, I think that while speaking them, he was happier than he had been for many a long day.
- To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.
Conjugation
Conjugation of gleam
| infinitive | (to) gleam | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | gleam | gleamed | |
| 2nd-person singular | gleam, gleamest† | gleamed, gleamedst† | |
| 3rd-person singular | gleams, gleameth† | gleamed | |
| plural | gleam | ||
| subjunctive | gleam | gleamed | |
| imperative | gleam | — | |
| participles | gleaming | gleamed | |
Derived terms
- gleamer
- gleaming (adjective, noun)
- gleamingly
Translations
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to be strongly but briefly apparent
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Etymology 3
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”) , probably a blend of glet (“slimy or viscous matter produced by animals; mucus, phlegm; congestion of mucus or phlegm in the body; viscosity”),[6] gleu (“substance used to stick things together, glue; viscous medicine made from plants”),[7] etc. + Old Norse kleima (“to daub, smear”) (whence Old English clǣman (“to smear”))[8][9] (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *klaimijaną (“to smear with clay, to mortar”), from *klaimaz (“clay; mortar”), from Proto-Indo-European *gleh₁y- (“to glue, stick; to smear”)).
Verb
gleam (third-person singular simple present gleams, present participle gleaming, simple past and past participle gleamed)
- (intransitive, falconry, obsolete) Of a hawk or other bird of prey: to disgorge filth from its crop or gorge.
- 1800, “Gleam”, in The Sportsman’s Dictionary; or, The Gentleman’s Companion: For Town and Country. , 4th edition, London: G. G. and J. Robinson, ; by R. Noble, , →OCLC, column 1:
- Gleam, a term uſed after a hawk hath caſt and gleameth, or throweth up filth from her gorge.
References
- ^ “glēm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “gleam, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “gleam, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “glēmen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “-en, suf.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ Compare “gleam, v.1”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “gleam, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “glet, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “gleu, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ “gleimen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ Compare “gleam, v.2”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2018.
Further reading
gleam (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - “gleam”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
- “gleam, n. and v.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN.
- "gleam" in WordNet 2.0, Princeton University, 2003.
