glint

English

Etymology

15th century. Borrowed from Scots glint, from Middle English glenten (“to shine, gleam; flash”), probably from Old Norse *glenta, from Proto-Germanic *glantijaną, causitive of Proto-Germanic *glintaną (“to gleam, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Cognate with Danish glente, Swedish glänta, Norwegian Nynorsk gletta (“to peep, look”), Middle High German glinzen; compare also Swedish glinta (“to slip, slide, gleam, shine”), Swedish glimt (“flash, glint, glimpse”), Norwegian Nynorsk glanta, gletta (“to glide, slip”). Reintroduced into literary English by Robert Burns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɪnt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (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.

2. (obsolete) A brief look; a glance.
   • 1849, chapter V, in Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland, of Sunnyside.  […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, page 147:

     "My name is Elphinstone, ma'am," said the young man, and then he cleared his throat and gave a glint at Mary, and grew redder in the face than ever.

   • c. 1858, Charles Selby, The Bonnie Fish Wife: An Original Musical Interlude in One Act, Lacy's Acting edition, London: Thomas Hailes Lacy, Scene II, page 15:

     Are ye the gentleman that’s speering for my hayreens—they’re fresh this morning—cast a glint at them, sir, and you’ll say you neever saw rubies, emeralds, and silver, and gold, sparkle sa boneely as the finny jewels that dazzle ye in this wee basket.

   • 1875, Frederick Clifford, chapter XII, in The Agricultural Lock-out of 1874  […], Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, page 281:

     “ […] I also remember the following dialogue in the Suffolk vernacular between a neighbouring farmer and his backus (¹) boy :—‘I sa, Mester?’ ‘ Well, bor.’ (²) ‘If thar ain't Sillett's owd razor-backed hogs broke out agin. That thar owd sarpint of a sow ha' got her snout under the gate, and lifted it off the jimmers, (³) and I ketched a glint (⁴) of the rest on 'em skrigglin' (⁵) thar way through the shruff (⁶) in the hedge holl (⁷) and making another gap right atwin (⁸) the stub-apple (⁹) and the touch-wood (¹⁰) tree, and tha ha' bin' a pamplin' (¹¹) all over the land, and rootin (¹²) up our taters, and not one on 'em ringled (¹³). Mester, I think we'd better pound 'em.'” (¹⁴)

Derived terms

• glint in the milkman's eye

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, glioscarnach f, drithle f
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: تروسکە (truske)

• Macedonian: бле́сок m (blésok), сјај m (sjaj)
• 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, now uncommon) 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'

   • 1847 November 6, “Lilly Begg: A Tale of the Times of the Covenant”, in Hogg's Weekly Instructor, volume VI, number 141, page 168, column 1:

     There was Clavers and six wild dragoons standin’ ranged in a raw, wi’ their muskets in hand, and a form kneelin’ on the grass afore them. I saw the flash o’ the guns, and as I turned to glint at the mangled corpse, oh, mither!

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)
• Macedonian: бле́ска (bléska), све́тка (svétka)
• Romanian: sclipi (ro), scânteia (ro)
• Russian: вспы́хивать (ru) (vspýxivatʹ), сверка́ть (ru) (sverkátʹ)
• Swedish: glimta (sv)
• Ukrainian: блискати (uk) (blyskaty), блищати (uk) (blyščaty), мерехтіти (merextity)

References

• Wright, Joseph (1900) The English Dialect Dictionary‎^[1], volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pages 644–645