glimpse

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English glimsen (“to glisten, glance”),^[2][3][4] probably inherited from Old English *glimsian (“to shine faintly”),^[5][6][4] from Proto-West Germanic *glimisōjan,^[6][7] formed on the base of glimmer and cognate with Middle High German glimsen (“to glimmer”).^[6][7][4][3] The same Germanic base produced gleam and glim.^[8][9] Etymonline and the AHD trace the group to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰel- (“to shine”).^[5][2] The p is not part of the original word: it probably came in to ease pronunciation,^[5][4] as in empty,^[9] and Barnhart notes that it may have arisen in dialect.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To have a faint or partial sight, to see dimly: c. 1386, in Chaucer's Merchant's Tale, "Ye han som glymsyng and no parfit sighte".^[6][10] The sense of shining faintly is recorded from about 1400;^[6] Barnhart dates glisten as a sense to before 1325.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first described light: to glimpse was to shine faintly or intermittently, to glimmer; from the 1590s it could also mean to come into view or dawn, senses now poetic or archaic.^[6][11] The noun began in the same field, as a faint and passing appearance of something (a1547) and a momentary flash of light (1603, Shakespeare's "glimpses of the moon" in Hamlet).^[6] The sense of a brief, imperfect view was established in the noun by 1580,^[6] and Ayto explains that the modern verb, to catch sight of something briefly, developed from that noun in the 18th century;^[8] the OED's first example is from 1779.^[6][5] Johnson (1755) still defined the noun first as a weak, faint light.^[12] In Devon, Wright records the glimpse of the evening for twilight.^[13]

Timeline

• before 1325 – Middle English glimsen, to glisten (Barnhart).^[4]
• c1386 – to see dimly, in Chaucer (obsolete by 1519).^[6]
• c1400 – to shine faintly or intermittently.^[6]
• a1547 – the noun, a faint and passing appearance.^[6]
• 1580 – a momentary and imperfect view.^[6]
• 1603 – a flash of light, in Hamlet.^[6]
• 1779 – to catch a glimpse of.^[6][5]
• 1833 – to cast a passing glance, in Charles Lamb.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A brief or incomplete view of something: From the train we caught a glimpse of the lake.
2. A brief insight or faint idea of something.
3. (archaic) A faint glimmer of light.

Verb

1. To see someone or something briefly or only in part.
2. (chiefly US) To glance at something.
3. (archaic) To shine faintly.

Word family

• glimpser
• foreglimpse
• unglimpsed

Related words

• glimmer
• gleam
• glim
• glint
• glance

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)