Definition of GLEAM

gleam

Meanings

Plural: gleam, gleamed, gleams

Noun

  • an appearance of reflected light
  • a flash of light (especially reflected light)
  • An appearance of light, especially one which is indistinct or small, or short-lived.
  • An indistinct sign of something; a glimpse or hint.
  • A bright, but intermittent or short-lived, appearance of something.
  • A look of joy or liveliness on one's face.
  • Sometimes as hot gleam: a warm ray of sunlight; also, a period of warm weather, for instance, between showers of rain.
  • Brightness or shininess; radiance, splendour.

Verb

  • be shiny, as if wet
  • shine brightly, like a star or a light
  • appear briefly
    • "A terrible thought gleamed in her mind"
  • Chiefly in conjunction with an adverb: to cause (light) to shine.
  • To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.
  • To be strongly but briefly apparent.
  • Of a hawk or other bird of prey: to disgorge filth from its crop or gorge.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English glem, gleam, gleme (“shaft of light; part of a comet’s tail; reflected sparkle; dawn; daylight; radiance (physical or spiritual); something fleeting”), from Old English glǣm (“gleam”), from Proto-Germanic *glaimiz (“brightness; splendour”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”).
Cognates
* German Low German Gleem (“shine, luster, gloss”)
* Faroese glæma (“gleam, glimmer”)
* Old High German glīmen (“to glow, shine”); gleimo, glīmo (“glowworm”) (Middle High German glīme, gleime)
* Old Saxon glīmo (“brightness”)

Scrabble Score: 8

gleam is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
gleam is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
gleam is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 11

gleam is a valid Words With Friends word