glint

[glint]

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noun

a tiny, quick flash of light.
gleaming brightness; luster.
a brief or slight manifestation or occurrence; inkling; trace.

verb (used without object)

to shine with a glint.
to move suddenly; dart.

verb (used with object)

to cause to glint; reflect.

Origin of glint

1400–50; late Middle English glint, variant of obsolete glent; compare Danish glente, Swedish dialect glänta to glimpse, brighten

Synonyms for glint

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1. gleam, glimmer. 4. See flash.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for glint

gleam, glimmer, twinkle, shine, look, trace, flash, glance, glitter

Examples from the Web for glint

Contemporary Examples of glint

Billy Bob Thornton, explaining the biggest appeal of the project for him, calls it, with a glint in his eye, “a 10-hour movie.”
Is TV’s ‘Fargo’ as Bloody Good as the Coen Brothers Movie? You Betcha.
Kevin Fallon
April 10, 2014

Historical Examples of glint

"I'll have to think that over," she said, with a glint of mischief in her eyes.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
With the first glint of dawn I heard steps outside the hut; but I did not stir.
The Strolling Saint
Raphael Sabatini
"It is a habit of mine," said he, with a glint of humour in his eye.
St. Martin's Summer
Rafael Sabatini
Alston Choate did not allow a glint to lighten the grave kindliness of his glance.
The Prisoner
Alice Brown
The wolf had seen the glint of her pistol barrel and had fled.
Out of the Depths
Robert Ames Bennet

British Dictionary definitions for glint

glint

verb

to gleam or cause to gleam brightly

noun

a bright gleam or flash
brightness or gloss
a brief indication

Word Origin for glint

C15: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Swedish dialect glänta, glinta to gleam

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 glint

1787, from Scottish, where apparently it survived as an alteration of Middle English glenten "gleam, flash, glisten" (mid-15c.), from a Scandinavian source (cf. Norwegian gletta "to look," dialectal Swedish glinta "to shine"), from Proto-Germanic *glent-, from PIE *ghel- "to shine, glitter, glow, be warm" (see glass). Reintroduced into literary English by Burns. Related: Glinted; glinting.

1540s (modern use from 1826), from glint (v.).