glass case
1. (as two words). A case with the upper part made chiefly of glass, so that the objects contained may be seen but not handled. (The first quot. may belong to 2.)
| 1649 Bury Wills (Camden) 220, I give vnto my daughter Mary Chapman..a glascase, a leafe table [etc.]. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 34 ¶5 The China Figure of a Lady in the Glass-Case. 1788 H. Walpole Remin. ix. 74 She..decorated waxen dolls of him and of herself to be exhibited in glass-cases in Westminster-Abbey. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales II. 103 [A temple] that deserves to be carved in ivory, and put into a glass case. 1857 Hawthorne Eng. Note-Bks. (1870) II. 357 His veritable cardinal's hat, in a richly ornamented glass case. |
† b. Gardening. A garden frame. Obs.
| 1819 Rees Cycl., Glass-case. |
c. jocosely. A place partitioned off with glass or glazed panels.
| 1776 Foote Capuchin i. Wks. 1799 II. 388, I saw him in one of the glass-cases at church;..his majesty looked at me very hard. 1855 Dickens Dorrit i. x, Having on previous occasions awaited that gentleman successively in a hall, a glass case, a waiting-room [etc.]. |
2. ˈglass-case. A case to hold glass-ware.
| 1734 Hope's Minor Practicks 540 App., A Glass-case for Drinking-glasses. |