glimpse
n. countablen. a quick look at something that you do not see clearly. You use this when you only see a small part of something for a very short time.
n. a brief or incomplete view of something. Often implies that the observation was accidental or obstructed by movement or distance.
I caught a glimpse of the ocean through the trees.
The crowd waited for hours just to get a glimpse of the famous actor as he entered the theater.
The diary provides a fascinating glimpse into the daily lives of ordinary people during the industrial revolution, revealing details that official histories often overlook.
The verb is derived from earlier glimse (obsolete), from Middle English glimsen (“to dazzle; to glisten; to glance with the eyes”), possibly from Old English glimsian, from Proto-West Germanic glimmisōjan, from Proto-Germanic glimō, from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Doublet of glimmer. The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates Middle Dutch glinsen (modern Dutch glinsteren (“to glint, glitter, shimmer, sparkle; to glance”), glimmen (“to gleam, shine”)) Middle High German glimsen (“to glow, smoulder”), glinsen (“to glimmer, shine”) Middle Low German glinsen, glintzen, glinzen (“to shimmer, shine”)
Commonly used in the phrase 'catch a glimpse of' or 'get a glimpse of'.
I saw a glimpse at the carI caught a glimpse of the carThe noun glimpse is almost always paired with the preposition 'of' and the verbs 'catch' or 'get'.