▪ I. glimmer, n.1
(ˈglɪmə(r))
Also 5 glymyr, 6–7 glymmar, 7 glymmer.
[f. the vb.]
1. A feeble or wavering light; a tremulous play of reflected light, a sheen, shimmer.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 315 My wasting lampes [have yet] some fading glimmer left. 1800 Phil. Trans. XC. 176 The liquid seemed to have lost its luminous quality except a little glimmer floating at the top. 1818 M. W. Shelley Frankenst. iv. (1865) 65 By the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. xxii. ix, In gloss of satin and glimmer of pearls, Queen lily and rose in one. 1861 T. A. Trollope La Beata I. viii. 196 This glimmer proceeded from a lamp of silver. 1873 Black Pr. Thule (1874) 64 Both the young men at once recognized the glimmer of the small white feather. 1884 Bazaar 17 Dec. 647/3 The painting was remarkable for the actuality of brilliant moonlight, and the marvellous imitation of its glimmer on the leaves of the laurels. 1888 W. H. H. Rogers Mem. West i. 3 The white glimmer in the far distance is Axminster. |
2. fig. a. Showiness of manner (? obs.). b. A faint gleam (of knowledge, hope, etc.); a faint perception; a glimpse.
| a. 1827 Scott Jrnl. 22 Jan., No dash, or glimmer, or shine about him, but great simplicity of manners and behaviour. |
| b. 1837–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. i. §7 (1847) 5 As early as the sixth century a little glimmer of light was perceptible in the Irish monasteries. 1859 Bright Sp. India 1 Aug., He has not a glimmer of the grammar. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. vii. 86 Here we get the first glimmer of Austin canons. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxiv. 186 Nowhere flight, no glimmer of hope. 1885 Tennyson Despair xix, I have had some glimmer, at times, in my gloomiest woe, Of a God behind all. |
3. slang. † a. Fire. Obs.
| 1567 Harman Caveat (Shaks. Soc.) 61 A Demaunder for Glymmar... These Demaunders for glymmar be for the most parte wemen; for glymmar in their language, is fyre. 1665 R. Head Eng. Rogue i. iv. (1680) 45 Glymmer, fire. |
b. pl. The eyes.
| 1814 Sailor's Return i. vi, Get out of my way, you booby, or I'll darken your glimmers for you. Ibid. i. vii, Come, my lad, close your glimmers, and I'll apply a plaster. |
Hence ˈglimmerless a., without a glimmer.
| 1889 Chamb. Jrnl. Jan. 10/1 The liquid dusk that hung glimmerless above the horizon. |
▪ II. glimmer, n.2 Min.
(ˈglɪmə(r))
[a. Ger. glimmer, f. glimmen, glim v.]
Mica (see quot. 1859).
| 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. i. 7 Silver Oars..free from Flint..Mispickle, Glimmer [ibid. i. 201 spelt Glimer], Wolferan [etc.]. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 118 Mica arenosa..which the Germans call Catsilver or Glimmer. 1778 Woulfe in Phil. Trans. LXIX. 30 May not the green and yellow glimmers from Johngeorgenstadt be of this kind? 1804 C. B. Brown tr. Volney's View Soil U.S. 55 The interior boundary of this sand is a ridge or bank of granitic talc,..called, by the Swedish traveller Kalm, glimmer. 1859 Page Handbk. Geol. Terms, Glimmer, the term applied by Werner to the several varieties of mica; occasionally used to designate talcose and micaceous compounds. |
▪ III. glimmer, v.
(ˈglɪmə(r))
Forms: 4–5 glemer, 5 glym(m)er, 6– glimmer.
[OE. *glimorian, a frequentative f. the root glim-: see glim n., gleam. Cf. Du., MHG., Ger. glimmer(e)n, Da. glimre, Sw. glimra.]
† 1. intr. To shine brightly; to glitter. Of the eyes: To flash. Obs.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 172 His arsounz..þat euer glemered & glent al of grene stones. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 199/1 Glymeryn, radio. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xxxi. 158 Cler Schynenge As the sonne vppon the water whanne it is Glemerynge. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 56 He was so ferdful to loke on that his eyen glymmerd as fyre. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 394 He sawe y⊇ bryght sonne glimmering on y⊇ faire chirches & hye steples. |
2. a. In weaker sense: To give a faint or intermittent light; to shine faintly. Also with away, out, and quasi-trans. with cognate obj.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 159/1 To Glymer, sublucere. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. iii. 5 The West yet glimmers with some streakes of Day. 1639 T. Brugis tr. Camus' Moral Relat. 207 The smallest starres, which the obscurity of night causeth to glimmer in the skye. 1718 Prior Solomon ii. 928 The rising motion of an infant ray Shot glimmering thro' the cloud, and promis'd day. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxv, A light glimmered through the grates of the lower chamber. 1797 M. Robinson Walsingham III. 73 The festoons of coloured lamps glimmered their last rays. 1832 H. Martineau Irel. iv. 65 They had..felt themselves secure while the beacon glimmered south-east of them. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter (1863) 404 There are many who will remember the white house glimmering through the trees. 1871 L. Stephen Playgr. Europe iii. (1894) 83 Enormous spaces of hill and plain..glimmering away to the indistinct horizon. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xix. (1634) 719 In the Sacraments, that which is of God, scarcely glimmereth in at holes, among the rout of the inventions of men. 1618 Bolton Florus (1636) 307 So soone..as any occasion glimmered out, they stuck not to break in upon us. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 66 ¶2 We should have..travelled upward to the original of things by the light of History, till in remoter times it had glimmered in fable, and at last sunk into darkness. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 1 Antecedent to all history, and long glimmering through it as a holy tradition. 1844 Mem. Babylonian P'cess II. 265 A name which will be honoured and revered, as long as one spark of virtue glimmers on the face of the earth. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. I. 101 The voice came glimmering and bubbling up a flight of stone steps. 1860 Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. vii. ii, The idea of ever recovering happiness never glimmered in her mind for a moment. |
c. to glimmer into: to pass into with a glimmer.
| 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. I. 216 The figures sadly glimmered into something like visibility. |
d. to go glimmering: to die away, die out, vanish, ‘peter out’. U.S. slang.
| 1891 Memphis Appeal-Avalanche 8 May 4/1 The union depot project appears to have gone glimmering down the vale of things that were. 1910 W. M. Raine B. O'Connor 28 My reputation has gone glimmering. 1945 La Junta (Colo.) Tribune-Democrat 1 June 1/8 Plans for a new building..went glimmering today as School District 11 was turned down on its application for Lenham funds for this purpose. |
3. a. To look or glance with half-closed eyes; to see indistinctly. rare. † b. trans. causatively. (See quot. 1580.) Obs. rare.
| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 56/1 If we doe not looke with full open eyes, but only glimmer in passing by, we shall se such gret villaneis, that they are inough to put out our eyes. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Esblouir les yeux, to glimmer the eies, to dazell. 1896 N.Y. Weekly Witness 30 Dec. 13/2 The little fellow had one eye closed entirely, and the other was glimmering. |
4. Comb., as glimmer-gowk dial., an owl.
| 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Glimmer-gowk, an owl. ‘A glimmer-gowk's afore ony cat for mice.’ 1880 Tennyson Village Wife vii. 6 'E sit like a greät glimmer-gowk wi' 'is glasses athurt 'is noäse. |