GLIMMER

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does glimmer mean? 

• GLIMMER (noun)
  The noun GLIMMER has 2 senses:

1. a flash of light (especially reflected light)

2. a slight suggestion or vague understanding

  Familiarity information: GLIMMER used as a noun is rare.

• GLIMMER (verb)
  The verb GLIMMER has 1 sense:

1. shine brightly, like a star or a light

  Familiarity information: GLIMMER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GLIMMER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A flash of light (especially reflected light)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

gleam; gleaming; glimmer

Hypernyms ("glimmer" is a kind of...):

flash (a sudden intense burst of radiant energy)

Derivation:

glimmer (shine brightly, like a star or a light)

glimmery (shining softly and intermittently)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A slight suggestion or vague understanding

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

glimmer; glimmering; inkling; intimation

Context example:

he had no inkling what was about to happen

Hypernyms ("glimmer" is a kind of...):

suggestion (an idea that is suggested)

• GLIMMER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they glimmer    ... he / she / it glimmers   
Past simple: glimmered   
Past participle: glimmered   
-ing form: glimmering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shine brightly, like a star or a light

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

gleam; glimmer

Hypernyms (to "glimmer" is one way to...):

radiate (cause to be seen by emitting light as if in rays)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence examples:

Lights glimmer on the horizon
The horizon is glimmering with lights

Derivation:

glimmer (a flash of light (especially reflected light))

 Context examples 

As we peered from the darkened sitting-room of the lodging-house, one more dim light glimmered high up through the obscurity.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You see, there is not a glimmer of light in any of the windows, and everything is working splendidly.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But he looked again over his shoulder towards the sea-line glimmering afar off, and yet again.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And then a radiant glory shone on the wall, and up through the other vision, displacing it, glimmered Her pale face under its crown of golden hair, remote and inaccessible as a star.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He waited till it was darker and people had begun to light up their houses, and then seeing a little glimmer ahead of him, he went towards it.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I had not yet had a glimmering of unconsciousness, and it seemed that an interminable period of time was lapsing before I heard her feet flying back.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“There are the lights of my house,” he murmured, pointing to a glimmer among the trees.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Hast thy sword, I see, and the moon throws glimmer enough for such old night-birds as we.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A light glimmered in each of his dull eyes, a tinge of colour came into his wax-like cheeks, and, opening his toothless mouth, he suddenly emitted a peculiar, bell-like, and most musical cry.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)