▪ I. glassy, a. and n.1
(ˈglɑːsɪ, -æ-)
In 4–6 glasy; 6–7 glassie.
[f. glass n.1 + -y1.
Glassy is not phonetically identical with the earlier glasy (cf. glazy a. 1), but a distinct new formation.]
A. adj.
1. a. Having the nature or properties of glass, vitreous; resembling glass in any of its conspicuous properties; appearing as if made of glass.
† glassy phlegm: (= med.L. fleuma vitreum, see quot. 1398).
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. ix. (1495) 94 Some flewmes ben glasy and ben soo callyd for liknesse of colour of glasse. 1530 Palsgr. 314/1 Glasye of the nature of glasse, voierreux. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 102. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 64 They help the collick proceeding from a glassie tough flegme. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 168 Glassy actinolite. 1811 Pinkerton Petral. II. 627 The glassy quartz retains its natural consistence. 1821 Examiner 172/1 Her singing..used..to be occasionally too hard and glassy. 1823 F. Clissold Ascent Mt. Blanc 23 The glassy pinnacles of the surrounding Alps. 1830 Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 333 This lava..is remarkable for the glassy felspars which it contains. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxx. (1856) 258 We had to quarry out the blocks [ice] in flinty, glassy lumps. 1854 Gosse Nat. Hist., Mollusca 71 The shell is glassy and colourless. |
b. glassy humour (of the eye): now usually called the vitreous humour (see quot. 1727–41). glassy membrane (see quot. 1885).
| 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. E iij b, Y⊇ glasy humour that susteyneth & compryseth all the hyndre party of y⊇ humour crystallyne. 1607 [see glazy a.]. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. v. 54 note, The third..is called the glassie humour. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 178 Resembling the watry or glassie humours of the eye. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Humour, The vitreous, or glassy humour, fills the posterior part of the eye; and is denominated from its resemblance of melted glass. 1885 Syd. Soc. Lex., Glassy membrane, a hyaline membrane immediately outside the outer root-sheath of the hair-follicle. |
c. Path. Of a surface: Hard and lustrous.
| 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) II. 480 The surface [of a wound] continues glassy with a display of pale and flabby granulations. 1835–6 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 462/2 The skin is pale and glassy and stretched. |
d. Of properties, etc.: Resembling what pertains to glass.
| 1634 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. i. xxiv. 84 A Glassie Gray. c 1790 J. Imison Sch. Art II. 150 The composition will..appear of a most beautiful bright, and glassy nature. 1840 E. E. Napier Scenes & Sports For. Lands II. App. 273 The cool glassy look a snake always has. 1882 B. Harte Flip i, The glassy tinkle of water. 1884 Congregationalist June 493 The green glassy tints of the Viescher glacier. |
† e. fig. Brittle or frail as glass. Obs.
| [1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. 473 It is called glassy because of the frailetie and bricklenes.] a 1591 R. Greenham Wks. (1599) 44 It is to be feared, that..mens teaching will become glassie, bright and brittle. 1637 Rutherford Lett. lxxxii. (1862) I. 209 Let them beware of glassy and slippery youth. 1642 R. Carpenter Experience ii. vii. 181 Come let us..tell him of what weake and glassie matter he hath made us. 1649 T. Ford Lusus Fort. 43 Pleasures..fitly are they compared to a Sea of glasse..but alas! how soon is that glassie glory crack't! 1785 Cowper Task iv. 306 Snapping short The glassy threads with which the Fancy weaves Her brittle toils. |
2. Of the eye, etc.: Having a fixed unintelligent look, lacking fire or life, dull.
| 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xvii, Yet they be as Iar⁓gaunt as a pye Right pale cheared with a glasye eye. 1815 Byron Hebrew Mel., Saul, Death stood all glassy in his fixed eye. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 28 Casting a glassy look about the apartment. 1831 Macaulay in Life & Lett. (1880) I. 237 His eyes have an odd glassy stare. 1857 Livingstone Trav. vii. 144 Their fixed glassy eyes glare as if in anger. |
3. Of water, etc.: a. Lustrous and transparent as glass. b. Having a surface like glass, smooth, unruffled. Hence also glassy calm, glassy quiet.
| 1535 Coverdale Rev. xv. 2 And I sawe as it were a glassye see [1382 Wyclif a glasen see, 1611 a sea of glasse], mingled with fyre. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 41 Her tresses gold, her eyes like glassie streames. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 619 The clear hyaline, the glassy sea. 1781 Cowper Truth 259 His conscience, like a glassy lake before, Lashed into foaming waves, begins to roar. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxi, Pointing to the glassy water, which, as it rose and fell, reflected the golden glow of the sky. 1871 Macduff Mem. Patmos xix. 267 Stilled into a glassy calm. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus iv. 24 All the weary way From outer ocean unto glassy quiet here. |
† 4. Of glass; made of or consisting of glass.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 198/1 Glasy, or glasyne, or made of glas,..vitreus. 1548 tr. Papius conc. Apoth. in Recorde Urin. Physick (1651) 234 That the matter..bee poured forth into a glassie dish or platter. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 21 The glassy globe that Merlin made. 1611 Cotgr., Monstre,..the glassie box that stands on the stalls of Gold⁓smiths, Cutlers, &c. 1669 Boyle Contn. New Exp. i. xi. 33 The Glassie part of this compounded Syphon. 1739 R. Bull tr. Dedekind's Grobianus 199 Of painted Earth a Vessel quickly take..Or else a glassy Bowl, the brittler Ware. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 363 A glassy globe, in frame of ivory, prest. |
5. Comb., as glassy-eyed, glassy-headed, glassy-smooth adjs.
| 1725 Pope Odyss. v. 500 Glassy smooth lay all the liquid plain. 1859 Tennyson Vivien 618 A little glassy-headed hairless man. 1895 K. Grahame Gold. Age 183 A glassy⁓eyed, and stiff-kneed circle. |
B. n. Surfing. (See quot. 1967.)
| 1962 T. Masters Surfing made Easy 64 Glassy, smooth water, no wind, if the surf is up then the best of surfing conditions. 1965 J. Pollard Surfrider ii. 20 Last week the surf was a ‘glassy’, no wind and the waves smooth. 1967 J. Severson Great Surfing Gloss., Glassy, an extremely smooth surface or wave, usually giving off a glasslike reflection. |
Hence ˈglassily adv.; ˈglassiness.
| 1611 Cotgr., Vitrification, Glassinesse or the making of Glasse. 16.. Petty in Sprat's Hist. Roy. Soc. (1667) 294 So Gum may give the Silk a glassiness, that is, may make it seem finer, as also stiffer. 1766 Smollett Trav. xxxi. 230 The glassiness (if I may be allowed the expression) of the surface throws, in my opinion, a false light on some parts of the picture. a 1788 Pott Chirurg. Wks. II. 92 The eyes have now a languor and glassiness. 1811 Self Instructor 525 The frequent workings over of the crayons would cause glassiness. 1827 Moore Epicur. viii. (1839) 67 Waters..rolled glassily over the edge. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xxiv. 251 He..did nothing but slightly bow, and look glassily about him. 1871 Palgrave Lyr. Poems 5 Glassily lisping, lisping low, lisping amorously. 1884 A. T. Wise in Q. Jrnl. R. Meteorol. Soc. Oct. 214 In contrast with the glassiness of its tranquil waters. 1891 S. J. Duncan Amer. Girl in Lond. 108 The brassiness of the crowns, and the glassiness of the jewels. |
▪ II. glassy, n.2
(ˈglɑːsɪ, -æ-)
Also glassey, glassie.
[f. glass n.1 + -y6.]
A glass marble.
| 1887 T. Darlington Folk-Speech S. Cheshire 203 Glassey, a marble or ‘taw’ made of glass of various colours. 1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow viii. 200 Then suddenly she ceased to hear, having caught sight of a glassie rolled into a corner. 1933 J. Thorpe Happy Days i. 29 The owner of a ‘glassy’, which was decorated internally with beautifully twisted colours, placed it in the centre of the road. 1952 [see agate n. 1 b]. |