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  • glass
    glass
    noun
    a hard, brittle, noncrystalline, more or less transparent substance produced by fusion, usually consisting of mutually dissolved silica and silicates that also contain soda and lime, as in the ordinary variety used for windows and bottles.
  • Glass
    Glass
    noun
    Carter, 1858–1946, U.S. statesman.
Synonyms

glass

1 American  
[glas] / glæs /

noun

  • glasses
    plural
  1. a hard, brittle, noncrystalline, more or less transparent substance produced by fusion, usually consisting of mutually dissolved silica and silicates that also contain soda and lime, as in the ordinary variety used for windows and bottles.

  2. any artificial or natural noncrystalline and transparent hard substance, such as fused borax, obsidian, or the like.

  3. something made of a noncrystalline and transparent hard substance, such as a windowpane.

  4. a tumbler or other comparatively tall, handleless drinking container.

  5. the quantity contained within a tumbler or other tall, handleless drinking container; a glassful.

    She poured two glasses of wine for herself and her guest.

    Drink a glass of orange juice and you'll feel better.

  6. a tumbler or other tall, handleless drinking container with its contents.

    Hand me that glass of milk.

  7. Also called eyeglasses. glasses, a device to compensate for impaired vision or to protect the eyes from light, dust, and the like, consisting usually of two glass or plastic lenses set in a frame that includes a nosepiece for resting on the bridge of the nose and two sidepieces extending over or around the ears (usually used withpair of ).

  8. a mirror.

  9. things made of glass, collectively; glassware.

    They used to collect old glass.

  10. a lens, especially one used as a magnifying glass.

  11. a spyglass.


adjective

  1. made of glass.

    a glass tray.

  2. furnished or fitted with panes of glass; glazed.

verb (used with object)

  • glasses,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • glassed,
    past participle,  past
  • glassing
    present participle
  1. to fit with panes of glass.

  2. cover with or encase in glass.

  3. to coat or cover with fiberglass.

    to glass the hull of a boat.

  4. to scan with a spyglass or other optical instrument.

  5. to reflect.

    Trees glassed themselves in the lake.

Glass 2 American  
[glas, glahs] / glæs, glɑs /

noun

  1. Carter, 1858–1946, U.S. statesman.

  2. Philip, born 1937, U.S. composer.


glass 1 British  
/ ɡlɑːs /

noun

    1. a hard brittle transparent or translucent noncrystalline solid, consisting of metal silicates or similar compounds. It is made from a fused mixture of oxides, such as lime, silicon dioxide, etc, and is used for making windows, mirrors, bottles, etc

    2. ( as modifier )

      a glass bottle

  1. any compound that has solidified from a molten state into a noncrystalline form

  2. something made of glass, esp a drinking vessel, a barometer, or a mirror

  3. Also called: glassful. the amount contained in a drinking glass

  4. glassware collectively

  5. See volcanic glass

  6. See fibreglass

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to cover with, enclose in, or fit with glass

  2. informal to hit (someone) in the face with a glass or a bottle

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Glass 2 British  
/ ɡlɑːs /

noun

  1. Philip. born 1937, US composer noted for his minimalist style: his works include Music in Fifths (1970), Akhnaten (1984), The Voyage (1992), and Monsters of Grace (1998); his film music includes scores for Kundun (1998), The Truman Show (1999), and The Hours (2002)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

glass Scientific  
/ glăs /
  1. A usually transparent or translucent material that has no crystalline structure yet behaves like a solid. Common glass is generally composed of a silicate (such as silicon oxide, or quartz) combined with an alkali and sometimes other substances. The glass used in windows and windshields, called soda glass, is made by melting a silicate with sodium carbonate (soda) and calcium oxide (lime). Other types of glass are made by adding other chemical compounds. Adding boron oxide causes some silicon atoms to be replaced by boron atoms, resulting in a tougher glass that remains solid at high temperatures, used for cooking utensils and scientific apparatuses. Glass used for decorative purposes often has iron in it to alter its optical properties.


glass Idioms  

    More idioms and phrases containing glass

    • people who live in glass houses

Closer Look

Common sand and glass are both made primarily of silicon and oxygen, yet sand is opaque and glass is transparent. Glass owes its transparency partly to the fact that it is not a typical solid. On the molecular level, solids usually have a highly regular, three-dimensional crystalline structure; the regularities distributed throughout the solid act as mirrors that scatter incoming light. Glass, however, consists of molecules which, though relatively motionless like a typical solid, are not arranged in regular patterns and thus exhibit little scattering; light passes directly through. At a specific temperature, called the melting point, the intermolecular forces holding together the components of a typical solid can no longer maintain the regular structure, which then breaks down, and the material undergoes a phase transition from solid to liquid. The phase transition in glass, however, depends on how quickly the glass is heated (or how quickly it cools), due to its irregular solid structure.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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Nouns

Participles

Conjugated Forms

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Etymology

Origin of glass

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun glas, Old English glæs; cognate with Dutch, German Glas


Explanation

Glass is the hard, transparent material that's used to make windows. While glass can be strong and sturdy, it's also brittle and can be broken easily by an errant baseball. Glass has all kinds of practical uses, from car windshields to greenhouse windows to jam jars to drinking glasses. When someone offers you a glass of water, they're referring to the vessel itself as a glass and also to amount it can hold — the glassful of liquid. The Old English source of glass is glæs, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root that means "to shine."

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing glass

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Nestled in a light-flooded corner of the home with retractable glass walls that let in fresh air, the primary suite is truly astonishing.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026

Still, the chain kept other items such as wine -- a stunningly cheap 100 yen per glass -- unchanged because "we want it to be enjoyed casually", its public relations office told AFP.

From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2026

It was not helped by inauspicious introduction to the public in 2019 when Musk attempted to show off the Cybertruck's apparently unbreakable glass, only for it to shatter during a live demonstration.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

“Corrado rested the miniature glass horse delicately on his knee,” Mr. Naspini writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

I went to a case, slid the glass back, and pulled out a few headdresses—simple wedding crowns and some elaborate but smaller combs.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

For Glass, the restaurant owner, the voters' verdict can't come soon enough.

From Barron's ● Nov. 8, 2026

But “The Glass Box” is also littered with stories of Mr. Glassman’s reckless spending and dictatorial rule.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

I would trade you a hundred Yosemite Valleys for the solitude and subtle beauty offered here at dusk, as the sun sets over the Glass Mountains and the sky turns mauve.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

“I don’t see this problem going away by itself,” said Gad Levanon, chief economist at the Burning Glass Institute, a labor-research firm.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

Mrs. Glass had undressed the package and now stood reading the fine print on the back of a carton of toothpaste.

From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger

Another major advantage of the discovery is that it overcomes a longstanding problem in manufacturing specialized glasses.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026

On Thursday, he arrived in court wearing a dark blue long-sleeved shirt, khaki trousers and black-rimmed glasses.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

As someone who has been wearing glasses since she was four or five, Babcock can’t quite understand the big deal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

What may change is whether people watch it on their phone or their TV or, you know, through AI glasses, but the visual component is still stronger for everyone than anything else.

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026

She picked up her glasses and slipped them on.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Wearing a plain khaki T-shirt and round-rimmed glassed, Griner was ushered a courtroom by police at Khimki District Court outside Moscow, Griner held up personal photographs before taking a seat in the defendant's cage.

From Reuters ● Aug. 2, 2022

"They were nearly glassed over, but the sound is too important," the airline said in 2016.

From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2020

Tickets are sold at a tiny glassed booth.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 5, 2013

He shouldered his rifle and glassed the intersection.

From Slate ● May 2, 2012

When it was light enough to use the binoculars he glassed the valley below.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Rubbert was by himself on the face of a cliff in Glacier glassing for grizzlies when a sow grizzly and her cub suddenly appeared.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 7, 2018

I did bricklaying, fibre glassing, I was a nanny, drove those rickshaw things, worked in a sandwich store – anything to get me from one place to the next.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 15, 2012

Andy Carroll is £3,500 lighter in the pocket after pleading guilty to accidentally glassing Michael Cook in a trendy Newcastle nightspot.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 25, 2010

Labels that do in-house glassing have been able to absorb this change easier, while some of the bigger brands that do contract glassing are getting hit hardest.

From Time Magazine Archive

He looked at Jam, his eyes glassing over with tears.

From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi

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