Word.ws English Dictionary

glances

UK/ˈɡlɑːnsɪz//ˈɡlænsɪz/

glances is the plural of glance.

glances is the third-person singular simple present indicative of glance.

Meaning of glance

Noun

glance (countable and uncountable, plural glances)

  1. (also, figuratively) A brief or cursory look.
    • Fie, fie, vnknit that thretaning vnkinde brow, / And dart not ſcornefull glances from thoſe eies, / To wound thy Lord, thy King, thy Gouernour.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. (also, figuratively) A quick movement that catches light, and causes a flash or glitter; also, the flash or glitter.
    • The ayre here is freſh and ſweet in the morning and towards Sunſet, but in the Sunnes perpendicular glances, wee found it hot and raging: […]1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book II, page 193
  3. A stroke in which the ball is hit with a bat held in a slanted manner.
  4. Of certain juvenile fish, chiefly of the Cichlidae family: an act of rapidly touching the side of its parent's body, usually to feed on mucus.
  5. (obsolete) An act of striking and flying off in an oblique direction; a deflection.
  6. (figuratively, obsolete) An incidental or passing allusion or thought, often unfavourable, expressed on a topic.
    • [W]hen Marcus Philoſophus came in, Sylenus was grauelled, and out of countenance, not knowing where to carpe at him, ſaue at the laſt, he gaue a glaunce at his patience towards his wife.1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for...

See all 25 meanings of glance

Phrases with glances

Words that rhyme with glances

Questions about glances

What is glances the plural of?
Glances is the plural of glance.
How do you pronounce glances?
Glances is pronounced /ˈɡlænsɪz/ (US).

Words near glances in the dictionary

  1. glanceful
  2. glancefuls
  3. glanceless
  4. glancer
  5. glancers
  6. glances
  7. glances away
  8. glances off
  9. glances over
  10. glancest
  11. glanceth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: glances (page history and authors); glance (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-glances.ogg.

Cite this entry: “glances.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/glances. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.