glance
- 01 B1 Intermediate
v.to look at someone or something very quickly and then look away.
v.to direct one's gaze briefly and rapidly. Intransitive when used with 'at'; transitive in literary contexts.
Simple“She glanced at her watch and realized she was late for the meeting.”
In context“He glanced nervously at the exit, hoping to slip out of the room before the question-and-answer session began.”
PitfallHe glanced the clock to check the time. He glanced at the clock to check the time.In modern English, you must use the preposition 'at' when you look quickly at an object.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to hit something at an angle and then fly off in a different direction.
v.to strike a surface at an oblique angle and be deflected. Often followed by 'off'.
Simple“The stone glanced off the window without breaking the glass.”
In context“The bullet glanced off the armored plating, leaving only a shallow scuff mark on the metal surface.”
- 03 C2 Proficiency
v.to shine or reflect light quickly.
v.to emit a brief flash of light or to reflect light while moving. Primarily used in descriptive or poetic writing.
Simple“The sunlight glanced off the surface of the lake.”
In context“The morning sun glanced across the polished marble floors, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air.”
- 04 B1 Intermediate
n.a very quick look at something.
n.a brief or cursory act of looking. Frequently used in the prepositional phrase 'at a glance'.
Simple“One glance at his face told me that he was angry.”
In context“A quick glance at the spreadsheet revealed several significant accounting errors that had previously gone unnoticed.”
- 05 C1 Advanced
n.a hit that strikes something from the side rather than directly.
n.an impact or stroke that hits a surface at an angle rather than head-on.
Simple“The car only suffered a slight glance from the falling branch.”
In context“The boxer avoided a direct hit, taking only a glancing blow to the shoulder that did little to slow his momentum.”
“At first glance, some of the duchy cottages look idyllic.”
“The couple glance at each other and quietly shake their heads.”
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-.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.