glimpsed

Verb

glimpse (third-person singular simple present glimpses, present participle glimpsing, simple past and past participle glimpsed)

1. (transitive) To see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.
   • Morning!—the Vestal Mother of the Sun / Seem'st thou to be, since from thy bosom born, / (Thou that first glimpsest—like a white-stoled nun!—) / He springeth forth—Oh! thou triumphal Morn!— / His race of glory and of joy to run; […]c. 1838 (date written), Emmeline Stuart Wortley, “Sonnet”, in Sonnets, Written Chiefly during a Tour through Holland, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Hungary, London: Joseph Rickerby, […], published...
2. (figuratively, transitive) To perceive (something intangible) briefly and incompletely.
   • I have only begun to glimpse the magnitude of the problem.
3. (intransitive) Chiefly followed by at or upon: to look at briefly and incompletely; to glance.
   • The door always opens directly into the kitchen, without any vestibule; and, glimpsing in, you see that a cottager's life must be the very plainest and homeliest that ever was lived by men and women.1855 August 12 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “August 12th. [1855.]”, in Passages from the English Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., published...
4. (intransitive) To shine with a faint, unsteady light; to glimmer, to shimmer.
   • O Lothſome place where I / Haue ſene and herd my dere / When in my hart her eye / Hath made her thought appere / By glimſing with ſuch grace / As fortune it ne would, / That laſten any ſpace, / Betwene vs lenger ſhould.a. 1548 (date written), [Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey], “The Forsaken Louer Describeth and Forsaketh Loue”, in Songes and Sonettes, London: […] Richard Tottel, published 10 August 1557 (Gregorian...

   Synonyms:

   glitter, coruscate, flash, gleam, glisten, luster, sheen, shimmer, shine, sparkle

5. (archaic, intransitive, poetic) To appear or start to appear, especially faintly or unclearly; to dawn.
   • Straitvvaies on heapes the thronging cloudes ariſe, / As though the heauen vvere angry vvith the night, / Deformed ſhadovves, glimpſing in his ſight / As darkenes, for it vvould more darkened be, / Through thoſe poore crannies forcde it ſelfe to ſee.1605, Michaell Draiton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “The Fifth Booke of the Barrons Warres”, in Poems: […], London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] Ling, →OCLC, stanza 45, page 113
6. (intransitive, rare) Sometimes followed by out: to provide a brief and incomplete look.

See all 11 meanings of glimpse