glimpse

The verb is derived from earlier glimse (obsolete), from Middle English glimsen (“to dazzle; to glisten; to glance with the eyes”), possibly from Old English *glimsian, from Proto-West Germanic *glimmisōjan, from Proto-Germanic *glimō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Doublet of glimmer.

The noun is derived from the verb.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ɡlɪm(p)s/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪmps

glimpse (third-person singular simple present glimpses, present participle glimpsing, simple past and past participle glimpsed)

1. (transitive)
   1. To see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.
      • c. 1838 (date written), Emmeline Stuart Wortley, “Sonnet”, in Sonnets, Written Chiefly during a Tour through Holland, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Hungary, London: Joseph Rickerby, , published 1839, →OCLC, page 99:

        Morning!—the Vestal Mother of the Sun / Seem'st thou to be, since from thy bosom born, / (Thou that first glimpsest—like a white-stoled nun!—) / He springeth forth—Oh! thou triumphal Morn!— / His race of glory and of joy to run;

      • 1931 August, H P Lovecraft, “The Whisperer in Darkness. Chapter 8.”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XVIII, number 1, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Pub. Co., →OCLC, page 67, column 2:

        Those wild hills are surely the outpost of a frightful cosmic race—as I doubt all the less since reading that a new ninth planet has been glimpsed beyond Neptune, just as those influences had said it would be glimpsed.

      • 2008, David Pierce, “Saying Goodbye in ‘Eveline’: Emigration · The Language of ‘Eveline’”, in Reading Joyce, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2013, →ISBN, page 103:

        The illumined portholes that Eveline glimpses mean that the night is drawing in, that the ship will be sailing into the dark. 'Illumined' also carries its own gothic charge, and what she glimpses is not therefore a passenger ship but a ship of death, more foreboding than inviting.

   2. (figurative) To perceive (something intangible) briefly and incompletely.

      I have only begun to glimpse the magnitude of the problem.

      • 1861, Andrew M‘Ewen, “Avalande, a Romaunt”, in Avalande. Fyttes and Fancyings, London: Charles H. Clarke, , →OCLC, page 16:

        What memories? / The pure love thoughts and who may know / Thou glimpsest from the long ago?

      • 1871, James Russell Lowell, “My Garden Acquaintance”, in My Study Windows, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: James R Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 5:

        I seem to glimpse something of this familiar weakness in Mr. White.

      • 1912 November, Florence Earle Coates, “Cendrillon”, in The Unconquered Air and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company ">…], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 27:

        A hope that, glimpsed, must fade; / A form, illusion made, / That, vanishing, shall come no more again!

      • 2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America‎, volume 182, number 21:

        To glimpse the actual woman behind these texts in any kind of full and adequate way is impossible. New studies of the political, economic, social and cultural fabric of first-century Palestine, however, enable us to fill in aspects of her life in broad strokes.

2. (intransitive)
   1. Chiefly followed by at or upon: to look at briefly and incompletely; to glance.
      • 1855 August 12 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “August 12th. ”, in Passages from the English Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1870, →OCLC, page 249:

        The door always opens directly into the kitchen, without any vestibule; and, glimpsing in, you see that a cottager's life must be the very plainest and homeliest that ever was lived by men and women.

   2. To shine with a faint, unsteady light; to glimmer, to shimmer.

      Synonyms: glitter; see also Thesaurus:glisten

      • a. 1548 (date written), , “The Forsaken Louer Describeth and Forsaketh Loue”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: Richard Tottel, →OCLC, folio 11, verso:

        O Lothſome place where I / Haue ſene and herd my dere / When in my hart her eye / Hath made her thought appere / By glimſing with ſuch grace / As fortune it ne would, / That laſten any ſpace, / Betwene vs lenger ſhould.

      • 1576, George Gascoigne, The Steele Glas. A Satyre , London: Henrie Binneman, for Richarde Smith, →OCLC, signature C.j., verso:

        ur curious yeares can finde / The chriſtal glas, vvhich glimſeth braue & bright, / And ſhevves the thing, much better than it is, / Beguylde vvith foyles, of ſundry ſubtil ſights, / So that they ſeeme, and couet not to be.

   3. (archaic or poetic) To appear or start to appear, especially faintly or unclearly; to dawn.
      • 1630, Michaell Draiton , “The Fifth Booke of the Barrons Warres”, in Poems: , London: ">…] for N Ling, →OCLC, stanza 45, page 113:

        Straitvvaies on heapes the thronging cloudes ariſe, / As though the heauen vvere angry vvith the night, / Deformed ſhadovves, glimpſing in his ſight / As darkenes, for it vvould more darkened be, / Through thoſe poore crannies forcde it ſelfe to ſee.

   4. (rare) Sometimes followed by out: to provide a brief and incomplete look.

• glinse (16th–17th c., obsolete)
• glympse, glymse (16th c., obsolete)

glimpse (plural glimpses)

2. Chiefly followed by of: a brief and incomplete look.

   Synonyms: glance, peek, gander

   Hyponyms: (of written things) skim; scan, perusal (ambiguous)

   I only got a glimpse of the car, so I can tell you the colour but not the registration number.

   • 1580, Iohn Lyly , “Neither Thine, nor Hir Owne, Camilla”, in Euphues and His England. , London: ">…] for Gabriell Cawood, , →OCLC, folio 72, verso:

     he Baſilike, whoſe eyes procure delight to the looker at the firſt glymſe, and death at the ſecond glaunce.

   • 1596, Edm Spenser, “An Hymne of Heavenly Beautie”, in Fowre Hymnes, London: ">…] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 43:

     But had thoſe vvits the vvonders of their dayes, / Or that ſvveete Teian Poet vvhich did ſpend / His plenteous vaine in ſetting forth her prayſe, / Seene but a glims of this, vvhich I pretend, / Hovv vvondrouſly vvould he her face commend,

   • 1682, John Bunyan, “”, in The Holy War, Made by Shaddai upon Diabolus, for the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World. , London: Dorman Newman ; and Benjamin Alsop , →OCLC, page 208:

     All that could be gathered vvas, that he had lurked a vvhile about the out-ſide of the Tovvn, and that here and there one or other had a glimpſe of him as he did make his eſcape out of Manſoul,

   • 1797, Ann Radcliffe, chapter XI, in The Italian, or The Confessional of the Black Penitents. A Romance.  In Three Volumes.">…], volume I, London: T Cadell Jun. and W Davies (successors to Mr. Cadell) , →OCLC, pages 303–304:

     o the ſouth a ſmall opening led the eye to a glimpſe of the landſcape belovv, vvhich, ſeen beyond the dark javvs of the cliff, appeared free, and light, and gaily coloured, melting avvay into the blue and diſtant mountains.

   • 1798, , “An Epistle to a Friend”, in An Epistle to a Friend, with Other Poems. , London: R. Noble, for T Cadell, Junior, and W Davies, , →OCLC, page 10, lines 19–20:

     The moſſy pales that ſkirt the orchard-green, / Here hid by ſhrub-vvood, there by glimpſes ſeen;

   • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), , chapter V, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. , volume III, London: ">…] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, pages 100–101:

     This letter revived in my memory what I had before forgotten, the threat of the fiend—"I will be with you on your wedding-night!" Such was my sentence, and on that night would the dæmon employ every art to destroy me and tear me from the glimpse of happiness which promised partly to console my sufferings.

   • 1820 September 13, Geoffrey Crayon , “Westminster Abbey”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number VII, New York, N.Y.: C S. Van Winkle, , →OCLC, page 12:

     As the eye darts into these dusky chambers of death, it catches glimpses of quaint effigies: some kneeling in nitches, as if in devotion; others stretched upon the tombs, with hands piously pressed together;

   • 1822, William Hazlitt, “Essay VIII. On Familiar Style.”, in Table-Talk; or, Original Essays, volume II, London: ">…] for Henry Colburn and Co., →OCLC, page 194:

     Not a glimpse can you get of the merits or defects of the performers: they are hidden in a profusion of barbarous epithets and wilful rhodomontade.

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, , →OCLC, page 38:

     And being, from the emotion he had undergone, or the fatigues of the day, or his glimpse of the Invisible World, or the dull conversation of the Ghost, or the lateness of the hour, much in need of repose; went straight to bed, without undressing, and fell asleep upon the instant.

   • 1907 August, Robert W Chambers, “His Own People”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 14:

     Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure—a glimmer of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.

   • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 703:

     On the other hand, to arrive after dusk, when the multitude of garish little public-houses are lit up, giving glimpses of crowded jostling bars and taprooms, is an introduction to a fine city well calculated to affect even the most nonchalant.

   • 2023 June 28, Victoria Luxford, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Review: A Nostalgic Treat”, in City A.M.‎, London: THG plc, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-12-03, page 18, column 2:

     An opening sequence, featuring a de-aged Ford playing a younger Indy , is a bold and nostalgic gambit, offering a glimpse of what you've missed.

3. (archaic) A brief, sudden flash of light; a glimmer.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke:  (First Quarto), London: ">…] for N L and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, , signature C3, recto:

     hat may this meane, / That thou, dead corſe, againe in compleate ſteele, / Reuiſſits thus the glimſes of the Moone, / Making night hideous, and vve fooles of nature, / So horridely to ſhake our diſpoſition, / VVith thoughts beyond the reaches of our ſoules?

   • 1610, G Fletcher, “Christs Victorie on Earth”, in Christs Victorie, and Triumph in Heauen, and Earth, ouer, and after Death, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: C. Legge, →OCLC, stanza 25, page 33:

     Sunk in his skull, his ſtaring eyes did glovve, / That made him deadly looke, their glimpſe did ſhovve / Like Cockatrices eyes, that ſparks of poyſon throvve.

   • 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. . Chapter IIII.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, Together with The Garden of Cyrus, , London: Hen Brome , →OCLC, page 181:

     They that held the Stars of heaven vvere but rayes and flaſhing glimpſes of the Empyreall light, through holes and perforations of the upper heaven, took of the natural ſhadovvs of ſtars,

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. , London: ">…] , and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC, signature , recto, line 642:

     Light as the Lightning glimpſ they ran, they flevv,

   • 1700, Dryden, “Homer’s Ilias”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC, page 214:

     If I, Celeſtial Sire, in aught / Have ſerv'd thy VVill, or gratify'd thy Thought, / One glimpſe of Glory to my Iſſue give;

   • 1828 May 15, , chapter VII, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series.  In Three Volumes.">…] (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume III, Edinburgh: ">…] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, →OCLC, page 187:

     At length the forest of Falkland received them, and a glimpse of the moon showed the dark and huge tower, an appendage of royalty itself, though granted for a season to the Duke of Albany.

   • 1850, Alfred Tennyson, “Conclusion”, in The Princess: A Medley, 3rd edition, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, page 173:

     e climb'd / The slope to Vivian-place, and turning saw / / The shimmering glimpses of a stream;

   • 1828 December, Thomas De Quincey, “Rhetoric”, in Critical Suggestions on Style and Rhetoric with German Tales and Other Narrative Papers (De Quincey’s Works; XI), London: James Hogg & Sons, published 1859, →OCLC, page 25:

     English Crackenthorpius (who has the honour to be an ancestor of Mr. Wordsworth), though buried for two centuries, will revisit the glimpses of the moon.

     A reference to William Shakespeare's play Hamlet—see the c. 1599–1602 quotation above.

4. (figurative)
   1. A faint or imprecise idea; an inkling.
      • 1836, , “Prospects”, in Nature, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, page 86:

        Every surmise and vaticination of the mind is entitled to a certain respect, and we learn to prefer imperfect theories, and sentences, which contain glimpses of truth, to digested systems which have no one valuable suggestion.

      • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Will Waterproof’s Lyrical Monologue”, in Poems.  In Two Volumes.">…], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, page 185:

        Let there be thistles, there are grapes; / If old things, there are new; / Ten thousand broken lights and shapes, / Yet glimpses of the true.

   2. (rare) A brief, unspecified amount of time; a moment.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:moment

      • 1809–1818 (date written), Lord Byron, “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the First.”, in Thomas Moore, editor, The Works of Lord Byron: , volume VIII, London: John Murray, , published 1832, →OCLC, footnote 2, page 21:

        Alwin smiled, / When aught that from his young lips archly fell / The gloomy film from Harold's eye beguiled; / And pleased for a glimpse appeared the woeful Childe.

5. (obsolete) A faint (and often temporary) appearance; a tinge.

   Synonyms: glimmer, hint, trace

   • 1557 August 10 (Gregorian calendar), , “Description of the Fickle Affections, Panges, and Sleightes of Loue”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: Richard Tottel, →OCLC, folio 4, recto:

     Reuiued with a glimſe of grace old ſorowes to let fal, / The hidden ſtraines I know and ſecret ſnares of loue: / How ſoone a loke wil print a thought, that neuer may remoue.

   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid.  (First Quarto), London: G Eld for R Bonian and H Walley, , published 1609, →OCLC, , signature A3, verso:

     here is no man hath a vertue, that he hath not a glimpſe of, nor any mã an attaint, but he carries ſome ſtain of it.

   • 1642, Tho Browne, “The First Part”, in Religio Medici. , 4th edition, London: E. Cotes for Andrew Crook , published 1656, →OCLC, section 33, page 72:

     here is not any creature that hath ſo neere a glympſe of their nature, as light in the Sunne and Elements;

   • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 6, lines 91–93:

     VVho is this vve muſt learn, for man he ſeems / In all his lineaments, though in his face / The glimpſes of his Fathers glory ſhine.

• glimse, glympse (16th c., obsolete)
• glinse (17th c., obsolete)

• foreglimpse
• glemish (possibly, obsolete, rare)
• glimpselike (rare)

• glimpse (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• megilps