gleam
/ɡlim/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.97 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Sometimes as hot gleam: a warm ray of sunlight; also, a period of warm weather, for instance, between showers of rain.
Countable; Obsolete
verb
To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Is not yon gleame, the ſhuddering morne that flakes, / VVith ſiluer tinctur, the eaſt vierge of heauen?"
- "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: […]"
- "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."
- "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!"
- "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."
- "And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height / A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!"
Etymology
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”), from Old English glǣm (“gleam”), from Proto-Germanic *glaimiz (“brightness; splendour”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Cognates * German Low German Gleem (“shine, luster, gloss”) * Faroese glæma (“gleam, glimmer”) * Old High German glīmen (“to glow, shine”); gleimo, glīmo (“glowworm”) (Middle High German glīme, gleime) * Old Saxon glīmo (“brightness”)
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *ǵʰley-, glem, glǣm, *glaimiz, glemen, *gleh₁y-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɡlim/
- British English: /ɡliːm/
Usage
Inflected Forms
gleams (plural)
gleams (present, singular)
gleaming (participle, present)
gleamed (participle, past)
gleamed (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
gleamed (first person, past)
gleamest (archaic, present)
gleamed (past, second person)
gleamedst (archaic, past)
gleameth (archaic, present)