glance
n. countablen. a quick, short look at something. You take a glance when you don't have much time or don't want to stare.
n. a brief, hurried look, often implying superficial attention or a desire for discretion.
He takes a quick glance at his watch.
She gave the document a quick glance before signing it, not noticing the error in the final paragraph.
A single, furtive glance across the crowded room was all they could exchange, yet it conveyed a volume of unspoken understanding that no conversation could match.
The verb is derived from Late Middle English glenchen (“of a blow: to strike obliquely, glance; of a person: to turn quickly aside, dodge”) [and other forms], a blend of: Old French glacier, glachier, glaichier (“to slide; to slip”) (whence also Middle English glacen (“of a blow: to strike obliquely, glance; to glide”)), from glace (“frozen water, ice”) (from Vulgar Latin glacia, from Latin glaciēs (“ice”), of uncertain origin, + -ier (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs); and Old French guenchir, ganchir (“to avoid; to change direction; to elude, evade”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic wankijan (“to move aside; to stagger, sway; to wave”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weng- (“to bend”). The noun is derived from the verb. The sense "to look briefly (at something)" is probably due to partial conflation with Middle English glenten (“to look askance”)—the ancestor of English glint—in the Middle English period. This conflation may also have reinforced the medial -n-. See English glint
From Late Middle English glaunce (compare glaunce-ore (“type of ore; lead ore used for glazing pottery (?)”)), borrowed from Middle High German glanz (“(adjective) gleaming, glittering, sparkling; (noun) a gleam, glitter, sparkle”), from Old High German glanz (“bright”, adjective), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlend-.
Commonly used in phrases like 'at a glance', 'to take a glance at', or 'to give a glance to'.
I caught a glance of the rare bird.I caught a glimpse of the rare bird.'Glance' is an intentional action of looking quickly. 'Glimpse' is the act of seeing something briefly or partially, often by chance.