GLISTEN

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does glisten mean? 

• GLISTEN (noun)
  The noun GLISTEN has 1 sense:

1. the quality of shining with a bright reflected light

  Familiarity information: GLISTEN used as a noun is very rare.

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

1. be shiny, as if wet

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• GLISTEN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of shining with a bright reflected light

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

glisten; glister; glitter; scintillation; sparkle

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

brightness (the location of a visual perception along a continuum from black to white)

Derivation:

glisten (be shiny, as if wet)

• GLISTEN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they glisten    ... he / she / it glistens   
Past simple: glistened   
Past participle: glistened   
-ing form: glistening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be shiny, as if wet

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

gleam; glint; glisten; glitter; shine

Context example:

His eyes were glistening

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

appear; look; seem (give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "glisten"):

spangle (glitter as if covered with spangles)

shimmer (give off a shimmering reflection, as of silk)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence examples:

Lights glisten on the horizon
The horizon is glistening with lights

Derivation:

glisten (the quality of shining with a bright reflected light)

 Context examples 

Over it were sprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

His eyes glistened when he spoke of the new sign that would stretch clear across both buildings.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The matrix created a smooth, glistening appearance over the scaffolds.

(Stem cells grown on scaffold mimic hip joint cartilage, NIH)

Alleyne gazed in admiration at the supple beauty of the creature; but the archer's fingers played with his quiver, and his eyes glistened with the fell instinct which urges a man to slaughter.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Coat-collars were turned up and handkerchiefs tied round necks, whilst the skins of the two men glistened with the moisture as they stood up to each other once more.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At such times I have seen his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it were new raised from a basin.

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

Out of this there had emerged a black, glistening object.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He took it and his eyes glistened.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I was now gaining rapidly on the schooner; I could see the brass glisten on the tiller as it banged about, and still no soul appeared upon her decks.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

His brow glistened with perspiration, his cheeks were of the dull, dead white of a fish’s belly, and his eyes were wild and staring.

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