glisten

From Middle English glisnen, glistnen, from Old English glisnian, itself from Proto-West Germanic *glisnōn, while ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic *glisnōną.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɪsən/
• Rhymes: -ɪsən

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glisten (third-person singular simple present glistens, present participle glistening, simple past and past participle glistened)

1. (intransitive, of a wet or greasy surface) To reflect light with a glittering luster; to sparkle, coruscate, glint or flash.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, , →OCLC, part I, page 202:

     The sun was fierce, the land seemed to glisten and drip with steam.

glisten (plural glistens)

1. A glistening shine from a wet surface.
   • 1920, D.H. Lawrence, chapter 1, in Women in Love:

     In his clear northern flesh and his fair hair was a glisten like sunshine refracted through crystals of ice.

• Etlings, Tingles, lingets, niglets, singlet, sniglet, tingles