▪ I. glisten, n.
(ˈglɪs(ə)n)
[f. the vb.]
Glitter; sparkle.
| 1840 S. Bamford Life of Radical xx. 133 Away it went i' th' glizzen an' th' thunner-din, o'er th' moor. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xiv, The sight of a piece of gold would bring into her eyes a green glisten, singular to witness. 1855 Tennyson Daisy 35 Oft we saw the glisten Of ice, far up on a mountain head. 1880 Howells Undisc. Country xx. 309 His vision was full of the sunny glisten of meadows. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 30 Dec. 3/1 The lace skirt..softens..the glisten of the satin. |
Hence ˈglistenless a., without glisten.
| 1854 Marion Harland Alone xi, The golden trumpet was glistenless as the rest, and the stars only kept guard over the slumbering city. |
▪ II. glisten, v.
(ˈglɪs(ə)n)
Forms: 1 glis-, glysnian, 3 glisnien, glistnen, 4 glis-, glysnen, -ien, glystnen, 4–5 gles(s)en, glisson, 5–8 glissen, (5 glyssen, -on, -yn), 9 dial. glizzen, 4– glisten.
[OE. glisnian, f. the root of glise v.: see -en5.]
intr. To shine with a fitful twinkling light; to glitter; to sparkle with light. lit. and fig.
| c 1000 Runic Poem 30 (Gr.) He glisnað glæshluttur. c 1000 in Cockayne Shrine 149 Se engel hæfde tweᵹen beaᵹas on hys handa ða glysnodon hwylum swa rosan blosman. a 1225 St. Marher. 9 Glistnede as gleam deð. c 1275 Lay. 21725 Scealdes þar glissenede. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 1017 Masporye as glas þat glysnande schon. c 1400 Rowland & O. 1365 His armours glyssenede full bryhte. a 1660 Hammond Serm. xiv. Wks. 1683 IV. 660 How unpolish't soever this Diamond be, yet if it do but glissen, 'tis too pretious to be cast away. 1741–2 Richardson Pamela (J.), The ladies eyes glistened with pleasure. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 236 While broken tea-cups..Ranged o'er the chimney, glisten'd in a row. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xxi. (ed. 2) 400 These masses would shine, indeed, and glisten, but it would be in the dark. 1840 Bamford Life of Radical xx. 133 It wur as fair a gowden yallo as ever glizzent. 1865 Geikie Scen. & Geol. Scot. viii. 214 Here and there a mass glistens white as if it were snow. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 58 The Irish rivers glisten with salmon. |
| fig. 1763 C. Johnston Reverie II. 179 Vanity glissened through her grief. 1815 Apollo's Choice ii. ii, Ah, gentle swain, I prythee listen, Let pity in thine eye-balls glisten. 1866 G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. x, Very tall and very stately, he was talking now to this old man, now to that young woman, and every face glistened towards which he turned. |
Hence ˈglistener slang, a gold coin (cf. shiner).
| 1818 Moore Fudge Fam. Paris vi. 45 Gemmen, who touched the Treasury glisteners, Like us, for being trusty listeners. |