glass

/ɡlɑːs//ɡlæs/

glass noun: an amorphous solid, often transparent substance, usually made by melting silica sand with various additives (for most purposes, a mixture of soda, potash and lime is added). Also the clipping of fibreglass.

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Noun

glass (countable and uncountable, plural glasses)

(uncountable, usually) An amorphous solid, often transparent substance, usually made by melting silica sand with various additives (for most purposes, a mixture of soda, potash and lime is added).
- This tabletop is made of glass.
- A popular myth is that window glass is actually an extremely viscous liquid.
(broadly) Any amorphous solid (one without a regular crystal lattice).
- Metal glasses, unlike those based on silica, are electrically conductive, which can be either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on the application.
(countable) A vessel from which one drinks, especially one made of glass, plastic, or similar translucent or semi-translucent material.
- Would you like a glass of wine?
- Fill my glass with milk, please.
(metonymically) The quantity of liquid contained in such a vessel.
- There is half a glass of milk in each pound of chocolate we produce.
- Here was my chance. I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
(uncountable) Glassware.
- We collected art glass.
A mirror.
- She adjusted her lipstick in the glass.
- […] for what lady can abide to love a spruce silken-face courtier, that stands every morning two or three hours learning how to look by his glass, how to speak by his glass, how to sigh by his glass, how to court his mistress by his glass? I would wish him no other plague, but to have a mistress as...1599, Thomas Dekker, Old Fortunatus, Act III, Scene 1, J.M. Dent & Co., 1904, p. 67
A magnifying glass or loupe.
A telescope.
- Haviers, or stags which have been gelded when young, have no horns, as is well known, and in the early part of the stalking season, when seen through a glass, might be mistaken for hummels […]1912, The Encyclopædia of Sport & Games
- He got a good glass for six hundred dollars.
  His new job gave him leisure for star-gazing.
  Often he bid me come and have a look
  Up the brass barrel, velvet black inside,
  At a star quaking in the other end.1923 October, Robert Frost, “[Notes.] The Star-splitter.”, in New Hampshire […], New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 29
(colloquial) The backboard.
- He caught the rebound off the glass.
The clear, protective screen surrounding a hockey rink.
- He fired the outlet pass off the glass.
A barometer.
- The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever / But if you break the bloody glass you won’t hold up the weather.1938, Louis MacNeice, “Bagpipe Music”, in The Earth Compels, page 59
(attributive) Transparent or translucent.
- glass frog; glass shrimp; glass worm

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(obsolete) An hourglass.
- Were my Wiues Liuer / Infected (as her life) ſhe would not liue / The running of one Glaſſe.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
(informal, uncountable) Lenses, considered collectively.
- Her new camera was incompatible with her old one, so she needed to buy new glass.
(archaic, countable) Synonym of window or pane, particularly in vehicles.
- [N]o sooner had we entered Holbourn than letting down one of the Front Glasses I enquired of every decent-looking Person that we passed ‘If they had seen my Edward?’1790, Jane Austen, “Love and Freindship”, in Juvenilia
- Ladies are usually conveyed about Calcutta, or any where for short distances, in a kind of palanquin, called a boҫhah... Its deep shape, and its seat, much resemble the [English sedan chair]; but having two doors, one on each side, with one window in front, as well as a small one behind, all...1810, Thomas Williamson, East India Vade-Mecum..., page 323
Synonyms:

window or pane, particularly in vehicles

Verb

glass (third-person singular simple present glasses, present participle glassing, simple past and past participle glassed)

(transitive) To fit with glass; to glaze.
(transitive) To enclose in glass.
- As Iewels in Christall for some Prince to buy. / Who tendring their own worth from whence they were glast,c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- And to ſatisfie my ſelf, that the diverſity came not from the Paper, vvhich one might ſuſpect capable of imbibing the Liquor, and altering the Colour, I made the Tryal upon a flat piece of purely VVhite Glaſs'd Earth, […]1664, Robert Boyle, “Experiment XLIV”, in Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours. […], London: […] Henry Herringman […], →OCLC, part III (Containing Promiscuous Experiments about Colours)...
(UK, colloquial, transitive) To strike (someone), particularly in the face, with a drinking glass with the intent of causing injury.
- JUDD. Any trouble last night?
  LES. Usual. Couple of punks got glassed.1987, John Godber, Bouncers page 19
- I often mused on what the politicians or authorities would say if they could see for themselves the horrendous consequences of someone who’d been glassed, or viciously assaulted.2002, Geoff Doherty, A Promoter's Tale page 72
(transitive) To bombard an area (most often a planet) with such intensity (by means of a nuclear bomb, fusion bomb, etc) as to melt the landscape into glass.
- “The Covenant don’t ‘miss’ anything when they glass a planet,” the Master Chief replied.2003, Eric Nylund, Halo: First Strike, New York: Del Rey, →ISBN, page 155
(transitive) To view through an optical instrument such as binoculars.
- Andy took his binoculars and glassed the area below.2000, Ben D. Mahaffey, 50 Years of Hunting and Fishing, page 95
- One of the keys to glassing effectively is supporting your binoculars. Advanced glassers who scan lots of country for long periods of time, or who use binoculars of 10X power or more, often use a lightweight camera tripod […]2000, Field & Stream, volume 105, number 6, page 87
(transitive) To smooth or polish (leather, etc.), by rubbing it with a glass burnisher.
(archaic, reflexive) To reflect; to mirror.
- Happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror.1856, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic. A History. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC
- Where the Almighty's form glasses itself in tempests.1818, Lord Byron, “Canto IV”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Fourth, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza LXXXIII
(transitive) To make glassy.
- Not only were his eyes averted from mine, but they were glassed to an uncanny degree.2018, Harry Leon Wilson, Ruggles of Red Gap, →ISBN, page 199
(intransitive) To become glassy.
- Bourez had timed it perfectly: a wind that was forecast for the morning began to stir just after his arrival and the sea glassed off for a brief period before the waves grew bigger and bigger.2012, Keith Duggan, Cliffs Of Insanity: A Winter On Ireland's Big Waves, page 32

Proper noun (1) capitalized: GLASS

GLASS

A solution stack consisting of the GemStone database and application server, Linux operating system, Apache web server, Smalltalk programming language, and Seaside web framework.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Glass

Glass

A surname.

Also used as

glass is also the clipping of fibreglass.

glass meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

glass in Hindi

substance: काँच kā̃c, शीशा śīśā
drinking vessel — see also cup, chalice, goblet: गिलास gilās

glass in Tamil

substance: கண்ணாடி kaṇṇāṭi
drinking vessel — see also cup, chalice, goblet: கண்ணாடிக்குவளை kaṇṇāṭikkuvaḷai
magnifying glass or loupe: வில்லை villai

glass in Marathi

substance: काच kāċ
drinking vessel — see also cup, chalice, goblet: पेला pelā, प्याला pyālā, ग्लास glās

glass in Urdu

substance: شِیشَہ śīśa, کانچ
drinking vessel — see also cup, chalice, goblet: گِلاس gilās, گْلاس glās

More languagesFewer languages

glass in Bengali: কাঁচ kãc, গ্লাস glaś
glass in Telugu: గాజు gāju, లోటా lōṭā
glass in Malayalam: സ്ടികം sṭikaṁ, പളുങ്കുപാത്രം paḷuṅkupātraṁ, ഗ്ലാസ glāsa
glass in Kannada: ಗಾಜು gāju, ಲೋಟ lōṭa
glass in Punjabi: ਸ਼ੀਸ਼ਾ śīśā
glass in Gujarati: કાચ kāc, ગ્લાસ glās, પ્યાલો pyālo, પવાલું pavālũ
glass in Odia: କାଚ kāca
glass in Sanskrit: काच kāca
glass in Assamese: কাঁচ kãs
glass in Nepali: ग्लास glās
glass in Pashto: ګيلاس gilās
glass in Tagalog: salamin, baso
glass in Arabic: زُجَاج zujāj, قزاز ʔezāz, زجاج zujāj, زاج zāj
glass in Malay: kaca, gelas
glass in Indonesian: kaca, gelas
glass in Persian: شِیشَه šīša, شیشِه šiše, آبْگینِه âbgine, گیلَاس gēlās
glass in Thai: แก้ว gɛ̂ɛo
glass in Vietnamese: thuỷ tinh, ly, cốc
glass in Myanmar: ဖန် hpan, မှန် hman, ရေခွက် rehkwak

Examples of glass in a sentence

I can eat glass, it does not hurt me
Beholding her charms in the glaſs, ſhe wandered over a wilderneſs of vain fancies.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et...
As of old, he took down his portable glass hanging on a nail, and carefully wiping it, replaced it in its case.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia...
One night he was in this nightclub in Sheffield and he got glassed by this bloke who’d been just let out of prison that day.2003, Mark Sturdy, Pulp page 139

All 40 example sentences with glass

Synonyms of glass

window or pane
particularly in vehicles

Forms of glass

Noun
plural	glasses
alternative form (obsolete)	glasse
Verb
third-person singular present	glasses
present participle	glassing
past participle	glassed
past	glassed

Plural of glass: glasses

Origin of glass

From Middle English glas, from Old English glæs, from Proto-West Germanic *glas, from Proto-Germanic *glasą, possibly related to Proto-Germanic *glōaną (“to shine”) (compare glow), and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰleh₁- (“to shine, shimmer, glow”). Cognate with West Frisian glês, Low German and German Glas, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish glas, Norwegian Bokmål glass, Icelandic gler.

* As an English, Jewish and German surname, from the noun glass. * Also as an English surname, from a nickname derived from French glas (“bell, tumult, clash of arms”). * As a Celtic surname (Irish, Welsh, Cornish, and Scottish Gaelic), Anglicized from the adjective glas (“grey”). * Also as a German surname, altered from the personal name Klass, shortened from Nikolaus, compare Nicholas. * As a Slovene surname, Americanized and Germanized from Glas.

Words formed from glass

Phrases with glass

154 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with glass

1 more rhymesFewer rhymes

surpass

Questions about glass

What does glass mean?: Glass means an amorphous solid, often transparent substance, usually made by melting silica sand with various additives (for most purposes, a mixture of soda, potash and lime is added).
What is glass in Hindi?: Glass in Hindi is काँच (kā̃c), शीशा (śīśā), गिलास (gilās). See Glass meaning in Hindi.
How do you use glass in a sentence?: I can eat glass, it does not hurt me
What part of speech is glass?: Glass can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce glass?: Glass is pronounced /ɡlɑːs/ (UK).
What is the plural of glass?: The plural of glass is glasses.

Words near glass in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: glass (page history and authors); GLASS (page history and authors); Glass (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-a glass.ogg, En-us-glass.ogg.

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