glance1

Pronunciation: /glɑːns/

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Definition of glance

verb

[no object, with adverbial of direction]

1take a brief or hurried look:Ginny glanced at her watch
(glance at/through) read quickly or cursorily:I glanced through your personnel file last night

2hit something at an angle and bounce off obliquely:the stone glanced off a crag and hit Tom on the head
(of light) reflect off something with a brief flash:sunlight glanced off the curved body of a dolphin
[with object and adverbial of direction] (in ball games) deflect (the ball) slightly with a delicate contact: he glanced the ball into the corner of the net
[with object] Cricket deflect (the ball) with the bat held slantwise; play such a stroke against (the bowler): Simpson glanced Statham’s fourth ball

noun

1a brief or hurried look:I stole a glance at John

2 archaic a flash or gleam of light: fish ... sporting with quick glance, Show to the Sun their wav’d coats

3 Cricket a stroke with the bat’s face turned slantwise to deflect the ball slightly.

Phrases

at a glance: immediately upon looking:she saw at a glance what had happened
at first glance: when seen or considered briefly and for the first time:good news, at first glance, for frequent travellers
glance one's eye: archaic look briefly: he had glanced his eye over all the folios of my copy

Origin:

late Middle English (in the sense 'rebound obliquely'): probably a nasalized form of obsolete glace in the same sense, from Old French glacier 'to slip', from glace 'ice', based on Latin glacies

glance in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of glance in the US English dictionary

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Other

glance1

verb

noun

Phrases

at a glance

at first glance

glance one's eye

Origin:

glance in other Oxford dictionaries

Nearby words

More results for glance

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