glint

glint

English

Etymology

15th century. Borrowed from Scots glint; from Middle English glenten (“to shine, gleam; flash”); probably alteration of Old Norse [Term?]; from Middle High German glinzen; from Proto-Germanic *glintaną, *glintjaną; from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Cognate with Swedish glänta, glinta (“to slip, slide, gleam, shine”), Swedish glimt. Reintroduced into literary English by Robert Burns.[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɪnt/

• Audio (Berkshire, UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪnt

Noun

glint (plural glints)

1. A short flash of light.

   I saw the glint of metal as he raised the gun.

   • 1944 September and October, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 283:

     To be plunged straight into the old nut and bolt shop, as was the writer's experience, during a spell of cloudless June Weather was a real hardship, and the mind kept flitting back to the glint of blue water under willow trees and the click of ball on bat on a quiet spacious greensward.

Translations

short flash of light

Bulgarian: проблясък (bg) m (probljasǎk), светване n (svetvane) Czech: záblesk m, odlesk m Danish: glimt n Finnish: välähdys (fi), välkähdys (fi) German: Glitzern n Greek: σπινθήρισμα (el) n (spinthírisma), μαρμαρυγή (el) f (marmarygí), ανταύγεια (el) f (antávgeia) Irish: léaró m Kurdish: Central Kurdish: تروسکە‎ (truske) Norwegian: Bokmål: glimt (no) n or m Nynorsk: glimt m or n Polish: błysk (pl) m Romanian: scânteie (ro), sclipire (ro) f Russian: вспы́шка (ru) (vspýška) Spanish: brillo (es) Ukrainian: відблиск (uk) m (vidblysk), блиск (uk) m (blysk)

Adjective

glint (comparative more glint, superlative most glint)

1. (archaic, Shropshire, of a blade) Not sharp; dull.

   The knife is glint.

Verb

glint (third-person singular simple present glints, present participle glinting, simple past and past participle glinted)

1. (intransitive) To flash or gleam briefly.

   A wedding ring glinted on her finger.

   • 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 110:

     Thor glared at him [...] what little light there was in the place mustered its forces briefly to glint menacingly off the horns of his helmet.

2. (intransitive) To glance; to peep forth, as a flower from the bud; to glitter.
   • 1785, Robert Burns, The Holy Fair

     The rising sun owre Galston muirs, / Wi' glorious light was glintin'

3. (transitive) To cause to flash or gleam; to reflect.
   • 1980, Inquiry Magazine

     The scientists theorized that a meteoroid, ranging in size from a speck of dust to a marble, might have struck the satellite and chipped off a bit of debris that glinted a ray of sun back on the Vela's second sensor […]

4. (archaic, Shropshire, transitive) To dry; to wither.

   The sun glints grass and corn.

Translations

to flash briefly

Bulgarian: блясвам (bg) (bljasvam), светвам (bg) (svetvam) Dutch: flitsen (nl) Finnish: välähtää (fi), välkähtää (fi) German: glitzern (de) Romanian: sclipi (ro), scânteia (ro) Russian: вспы́хивать (ru) (vspýxivatʹ), сверка́ть (ru) (sverkátʹ) Swedish: glimta (sv) Ukrainian: блискати (uk) (blyskaty), блищати (uk) (blyščaty), мерехтіти (uk) (merextity)

References

• Wright, Joseph (1900) The English Dialect Dictionary‎, volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pages 644–645

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “glint”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 20 January 2017: “from Scottish, where apparently it survived as an alteration of glent [...] Reintroduced into literary English by Burns.”.