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.
any artificial or natural noncrystalline and transparent hard substance, such as fused borax, obsidian, or the like.
something made of a noncrystalline and transparent hard substance, such as a windowpane.
a tumbler or other comparatively tall, handleless drinking container.
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.
a tumbler or other tall, handleless drinking container with its contents.
Hand me that glass of milk.
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 ).
a mirror.
things made of glass, collectively; glassware.
They used to collect old glass.
a lens, especially one used as a magnifying glass.
a spyglass.
made of glass.
a glass tray.
furnished or fitted with panes of glass; glazed.
to fit with panes of glass.
cover with or encase in glass.
to coat or cover with fiberglass.
to glass the hull of a boat.
to scan with a spyglass or other optical instrument.
to reflect.
Trees glassed themselves in the lake.
Carter, 1858–1946, U.S. statesman.
Philip, born 1937, U.S. composer.
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
( as modifier )
a glass bottle
any compound that has solidified from a molten state into a noncrystalline form
something made of glass, esp a drinking vessel, a barometer, or a mirror
Also called: glassful. the amount contained in a drinking glass
glassware collectively
See volcanic glass
See fibreglass
to cover with, enclose in, or fit with glass
informal to hit (someone) in the face with a glass or a bottle
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.
First recorded before 900; Middle English noun glas, Old English glæs; cognate with Dutch, German Glas
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."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I got a glass of water, then the phone rang.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
According to the RAF, it comes with an advanced "glass cockpit", and the aircraft is also used for the "most advanced fast jet training for RAF pilots".
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Quartz crystals sat at each of the bed’s four corners and atop a small glass table to the side.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Many silicon-derived materials used in concrete, glass, ceramics, semiconductors, and silicones require high temperatures, large amounts of energy, and intensive chemical processing to produce.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
The glare Nate gives Rhys could cut glass, and my butterflies get in line.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
The deal valued Glass Imaging at over $300 million, some of the people said, after it had been valued at around $100 million in a funding round last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Glass preforms are heated until their structure becomes loose enough to be drawn into extremely thin fibers.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
Bautista also appeared in 2021's Dune and its 2024 sequel, James Bond film Spectre, Army of the Dead and Knives Out detective thriller Glass Onion.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Levanon, chief economist of the labor research firm Burning Glass Institute, said robust economic growth and low hiring makes perfect sense in a period of fast-rising productivity.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
Then Mrs. Glass abruptly and rather pluckily asked, “How long do you have to do it?”
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
So, do the military plane flyovers, cue the performances, fill the wine the glasses, Kritenbrink says.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
They said Meta may have finally cracked virtually-reality glasses with a lighter and less bulky offering.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
Meta is doubling down on smart glasses and artificial intelligence even as concerns mount that wearable technology is being used to violate people’s privacy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new lineup of glasses at the social media giant's annual Connect conference at its Menlo Park headquarters, where he also touted the company's new personal artificial intelligence assistant, Muse.
From Barron's
Billy was back at the table, depositing two glasses of orange juice with chunks of ice.
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
The CD isn’t glassed in, and spins freely.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2018
Kelp bobbed in the shallows, and the rockpools were glassed with ice.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 12, 2018
The front’s been ripped out and glassed over, the lawn is paving stone.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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
After lunch, still driving, and having seen three more shooting-sized bucks, I asked Frank if we could get out of the truck and hike a bit, maybe do some glassing and stalking.
From Time Magazine Archive
He looked at Jam, his eyes glassing over with tears.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
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.
