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glass
glassnouna 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.
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Glass
GlassnounCarter, 1858–1946, U.S. statesman.
glass
1 Americannoun
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glasses
plural
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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.
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any artificial or natural noncrystalline and transparent hard substance, such as fused borax, obsidian, or the like.
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something made of a noncrystalline and transparent hard substance, such as a windowpane.
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a tumbler or other comparatively tall, handleless drinking container.
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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.
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a tumbler or other tall, handleless drinking container with its contents.
Hand me that glass of milk.
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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 ).
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a mirror.
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things made of glass, collectively; glassware.
They used to collect old glass.
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a lens, especially one used as a magnifying glass.
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a spyglass.
adjective
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made of glass.
a glass tray.
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furnished or fitted with panes of glass; glazed.
verb (used with object)
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glasses,
present (3rd person singular)
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glassed,
past participle, past
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glassing
present participle
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to fit with panes of glass.
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cover with or encase in glass.
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to coat or cover with fiberglass.
to glass the hull of a boat.
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to scan with a spyglass or other optical instrument.
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to reflect.
Trees glassed themselves in the lake.
noun
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Carter, 1858–1946, U.S. statesman.
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Philip, born 1937, U.S. composer.
noun
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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
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( as modifier )
a glass bottle
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any compound that has solidified from a molten state into a noncrystalline form
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something made of glass, esp a drinking vessel, a barometer, or a mirror
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Also called: glassful. the amount contained in a drinking glass
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glassware collectively
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See volcanic glass
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See fibreglass
verb
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to cover with, enclose in, or fit with glass
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informal to hit (someone) in the face with a glass or a bottle
noun
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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glasssimple
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glassessimple
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have glassedperfect
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has glassedperfect
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am glassingprogressive
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are glassingprogressive
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is glassingprogressive
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have been glassingperfect progressive
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has been glassingperfect progressive
Past
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glassedsimple
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had glassedperfect
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was glassingprogressive
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were glassingprogressive
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had been glassingperfect progressive
Future
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."
Vocabulary lists containing glass
"The New England Primer"
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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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:
The remaining 14 participants were also encouraged to reach 5-a-day through whole fruits and vegetables, but they additionally consumed one glass of fruit juice or a smoothie each day.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
Some participants were also asked to include one glass of fruit juice or a smoothie each day as they worked toward the 5-a-day target.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
After Burton's fairy tale cup run finally ended, Clough said that Pep Guardiola invited him in for a glass of wine and quipped he hoped the Spaniard had "more than a glass."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
Let’s just say it made me look forward to a glass of my pre-colonoscopy potion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
To his delight, the foggy glass had done well to cover his eye hollow.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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Lorraine Glass, the director of Respect Me, Scotland's national anti-bullying service, said there were already a number of laws to safeguard children in Scotland.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Google Glass, the first to step forward and one of the company’s slate of “moonshot” projects, came out in 2013.
From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2026
“That’s My Bush!” ran for eight episodes in the spring of 2001, with plans to spin off into a feature called “George W. Bush and the Secret of the Glass Tiger.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
And over a decade after the demise of the ill-fated Google Glass, Alphabet is trying its hand at smart glasses again with the May launch of its Intelligent Eyewear.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 27, 2026
He had no children, just a wife, Glass, who ran a small healing spa next to the gym Hibiscus owned, where he trained Redemption and a couple of other kids.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
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He wore plain clothes, including a black hoodie, and glasses.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Starting at 18:00, eclipse glasses will be available at the family-friendly event.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Eclipse glasses - which will be handed out at events across Scotland hosted by astronomical societies or bought online - can offer protection from harmful rays of sunlight.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Free eclipse glasses will be handed out as part of a "relaxed coffee evening" at the church.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
She picked up her glasses and slipped them on.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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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
As soon as brown timber dust flies around a room it ceases to be a place in which surfboards can be shaped and glassed.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 17, 2017
The actual window had been glassed off and transformed into a tableau mordant of how it might have looked 50 years ago, complete with repositories of musty school text books.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2013
Inside a glassed display fridge are orderly rows of yogurt cartons and bottled dooght, the fermented and salted drink of ancient Persia.
From Slate ● Oct. 4, 2013
The front’s been ripped out and glassed over, the lawn is paving stone.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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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
Chouinard says Patagonia is still working on a sophisticated glassing procedure necessary to offer a finished surfboard with these added flex characteristics.
From Time Magazine Archive
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He looked at Jam, his eyes glassing over with tears.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.