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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Gleam

Gleam, n.

noun

n. [A-S. gleam, glām, from glāwan, to shine, gleam. Cf. Icel. glāma, whiteness, O. Sax. glīmo, splendor.] 1. A shoot of light; a small stream of light; a beam; a ray. A glimmer, and then a gleam of light. Longfellow. 2. Brightness; splendor. In the clear azure gleam the flocks are seen. Pope.

Glēam, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. GLEAMED; p. pr. & vb. n. GLEAMING.]

  1. To shoot, or dart, as rays of light; as, at the dawn, light gleams in the east.
  2. To shine; to cast light.
  3. (Falconry.) To disgorge filth, as a hawk.

Syn. — To GLEAM, GLIMMER, GLITTER. To gleam denotes a faint but distinct emission of light. To glimmer describes an indistinct and unsteady light. To glitter imports a brightness that is intense, but varying. The morning light gleams upon the earth; a distant taper glimmers through the mist; a dew-drop glitters in the sun. At last a gleam. Of dawning light turned thitherward in haste His traveled steps. Milton. And from the walls of heaven Shoots far into the bosom of dim night A glimmering dawn. Milton. Yet oft before his infant eyes would run Such forms as glitter in the muse's ray. Gray.