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glass

[glas, glahs]
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noun
  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 substance having similar properties and composition, as fused borax, obsidian, or the like.
  3. something made of such a substance, as a windowpane.
  4. a tumbler or other comparatively tall, handleless drinking container.
  5. glasses, Also called eyeglasses. a device to compensate for defective 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 with pair of).Compare goggle(def 1a), pince-nez, spectacle(def 3).
  6. a mirror.
  7. things made of glass, collectively; glassware: They used to collect old glass.
  8. a glassful.
  9. a lens, especially one used as a magnifying glass.
  10. a spyglass.
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adjective
  1. made of glass: a glass tray.
  2. furnished or fitted with panes of glass; glazed.
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verb (used with object)
  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.
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Origin of glass

before 900; Middle English glas (noun), Old English glæs; cognate with Dutch, German Glas
Related formsglass·less, adjectiveglass·like, adjectivenon·glass, adjectiveun·glassed, adjective

Glass

[glas, glahs]
noun
  1. Carter,1858–1946, U.S. statesman.
  2. Philip,born 1937, U.S. composer.
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Google Glass

Trademark.
  1. a computer that is worn like eyeglasses, has a tiny display within the field of vision, responds to voice commands and eye movements, and has a touchpad at the side: She's wearing Google Glass, and I think she just took your picture with it.
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Also called Glass.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for glasses

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • As the waiter would have refilled the glasses, Blythe stopped him.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • As the next toast fell to his lot, he would ask them to charge their glasses.

  • It was the gray-headed man with the glasses and the kindly look about the eyes.

  • Garson brought his fist down on the table with a force that made the glasses jingle.

    Within the Law

    Marvin Dana

  • From the bar came the jingle of glasses and loud, cheerful conversation.

    K

    Mary Roberts Rinehart

British Dictionary definitions for glasses

glasses

pl n
  1. a pair of lenses for correcting faulty vision, in a frame that rests on the bridge of the nose and hooks behind the earsAlso called: spectacles, eyeglasses
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glass

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 Related adjectives: vitreous, vitric
  2. any compound that has solidified from a molten state into a noncrystalline form
  3. something made of glass, esp a drinking vessel, a barometer, or a mirror
  4. Also called: glassful the amount contained in a drinking glass
  5. glassware collectively
  6. See volcanic glass
  7. See fibreglass
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verb (tr)
  1. to cover with, enclose in, or fit with glass
  2. informal to hit (someone) in the face with a glass or a bottle
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Derived Formsglassless, adjectiveglasslike, adjective

Word Origin

Old English glæs; related to Old Norse gler, Old High German glas, Middle High German glast brightness; see glare 1

Glass

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)
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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

Word Origin and History for glasses

n.

"spectacles," 1660s, from plural of glass (n.).

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glass

v.

late 14c., "to fit with glass;" 1570s, "to cover with glass," from glass (n.). Related: Glassed; glassing.

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glass

n.

Old English glæs "glass, a glass vessel," from West Germanic *glasam (cf. Old Saxon glas, Middle Dutch and Dutch glas, German Glas, Old Norse gler "glass, looking glass," Danish glar), from PIE *ghel- "to shine, glitter" (cf. Latin glaber "smooth, bald," Old Church Slavonic gladuku, Lithuanian glodus "smooth"), with derivatives referring to colors and bright materials, a word that is the root of widespread words for gray, blue, green, and yellow (cf. Old English glær "amber," Latin glaesum "amber," Old Irish glass "green, blue, gray," Welsh glas "blue;" see Chloe). Sense of "drinking glass" is early 13c.

The glass slipper in "Cinderella" is perhaps an error by Charles Perrault, translating in 1697, mistaking Old French voir "ermine, fur" for verre "glass." In other versions of the tale it is a fur slipper. The proverb about people in glass houses throwing stones is attested by 1779, but earlier forms go back to 17c.:

Who hath glass-windows of his own must take heed how he throws stones at his house. ... He that hath a body made of glass must not throw stones at another. [John Ray, "Handbook of Proverbs," 1670]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
glasses in Medicine

glass

(glăs)
n.
  1. Any of a large class of materials with highly variable mechanical and optical properties that solidify from the molten state without crystallization, are typically made by silicates fusing with boric oxide, aluminum oxide, or phosphorus pentoxide, are generally hard, brittle, and transparent or translucent, and are considered to be supercooled liquids rather than true solids.
  2. Something usually made of glass, such as a window, mirror, or drinking vessel.
  3. glasses A pair of lenses mounted in a light frame, used to correct faulty vision or protect the eyes.spectacles
  4. A device, such as a monocle or spyglass, containing a lens or lenses and used as an aid to vision.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
glasses in Science

glass

[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.
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A 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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Idioms and Phrases with glasses

glasses

glass

In addition to the idioms beginning with glass

also see:

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.