Gleam

Definitions: Gleam

Gleam

Noun

1. An appearance of reflected light.

2. A flash of light (especially reflected light).

Verb

1. Be shiny, as if wet; "His eyes were glistening".

2. Shine brightly, like a star or a light.

3. Appear briefly; "A terrible thought gleamed in her mind".

Date "gleam" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references)

Synonyms: Gleam

Synonyms: gleaming (n), glow (n), lambency (n), glimmer (v), glint (v), glisten (v), glitter (v), shine (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Hope	Beam of hope, ray of hope, gleam of hope, glimmer of hope, flash of hope, dawn of hope, star of hope; cheer; bit of blue sky, silver lining, silver lining of the cloud, bottom of Pandora's box, balm in Gilead; light at the end of the tunnel.
Smallness	Small quantity, modicum, trace, hint, minimum; vanishing point; material point, atom, particle, molecule, corpuscle, point, speck, dot, mote, jot, iota, ace; minutiae, details; look, thought, idea, soupcon, dab, dight, whit, tittle, shade, shadow; spark, scintilla, gleam; touch, cast; grain, scruple, granule, globule, minim, sup, sip, sop, spice, drop, droplet, sprinkling, dash, morceau, screed, smack, tinge, tincture; inch, patch, scantling, tatter, cantlet, flitter, gobbet, mite, bit, morsel, crumb, seed, fritter, shive; snip, snippet; snick, snack, snatch, slip, scrag; chip, chipping; shiver, sliver, driblet, clipping, paring, shaving, hair.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Gleam

English words defined with "gleam": beady-eyed, blink ♦ diluted ♦ eyelike ♦ flash, Foregleam, Foulder ♦ Gleamed, Gleen ♦ lecherous, Leme ♦ Steem, Stime, suffuse ♦ To flash in the pan, toned down, twinkle, Twire ♦ wink, winkle. (references)

Specialty definitions using "gleam": Asparagus ♦ Iron ♦ Sparrowgrass. (references)

Etymologies containing "gleam": Agleam. (references)

Domain	Usage
Lyrics	Got my 10 in my hand and a gleam in my eye (Gangsta's Paradise; performing artist: Coolio) She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam (Dirty Laundry; performing artist: Don Henley) Give him a pair of eyes with a come-hither gleam ("Mr. Sandman"; performing artist: The Chordettes)
Movie/TV Titles	Gleam O'Dawn (1922)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	A Gleam in the Eye: Poems for a First Baby (reference) A Gleam Through the Window (reference) Followers of the gleam, or, Modern miracles of grace (reference) Followthe Gleam (reference) Gleam and Glow (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	Gleam of Hope (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	The Gleam (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Play	Caption
	Volt; voltage; electricity; spark; atom; beam; fire; flare; flicker; gleam; glint; glitter; glow; hint; jot; nucleus; ray; scintilla; scintillation; scrap; sparkle; spit; trace; vestige; dangerous; glitter; glint; sparkle; sparkling.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Charles Dickens	This dismal Cairo [Illinois], an ugly sepulchre, a grave uncheered by any gleam of promise.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	He saw the gleam of their bayonets.
Grapes of Wrath	Steinbeck, John	There was color in the light now, a reddish gleam.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Gleam" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 89.35% of the time. "Gleam" is used about 338 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	89.35%	302	16,684
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	5.92%	20	78,262
Lexical Verb (base form)	4.73%	16	87,710
Total	100.00%	338	N/A

Expressions using "gleam": a faint gleam of light ♦ gleam of hope ♦ gleam of light. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "gleam": gleam-surges.
	Ending with "gleam": a-gleam, battle-gleam, lust-gleam, sun-gleam.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "gleam"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		vetëtin (lighten, sparkle), shkëlqej (blaze, bloom, flame, flash, fulgurate, gild, glare, glint, glisten, glister, glitter, glory, glow, light, polish, scintillate, shed, shine), rreze (beam, flicker, radius, Ray, shaft), refleks (reflex), ndrit (brighten, burn, glitter, shine, sparkle, twinkle, water), dritë e dobët. (various references)

Arabic		‏نور (clear, day, edify, enlighten, flare, glow, illuminate, illumination), ‏لمع (beam, blaze, buff, burnish, coruscate, dazzle, enamel, flare, flash, furbish, glisten, glitter, polish, radiate, rub up, shine, sparkle), ‏ومضة (glance, scintillation, sparkle), ‏ضوء ضعيف, ‏أضاء بضعف, ‏بريق (blaze, brightness, burnish, flame, glance, glimmering, glitter, gloss, loudness, luster, opalescence, refulgence, sheen, shine, spark, twinkle). (various references)

Bulgarian		отблясък (glimmer, glint, reflection), лъч (beam, shaft, shoot), блестя (blaze, coruscate, dazzle, glance, glitter, glow, irradiate, scintillate, shine, shine out, sparkle, twinkle), блещукане (flicker, glimmer, glimmering, scintillation, shimmer, twinkle, twinkling), проблясване (flare). (various references)

Chinese		微光 (glimmer, shimmer), 一線微光 . (various references)

Czech		zablýsknout se, záblesk (blink, flare, flash, glimmer, glimpse, glint, twinkle), třpytit se (blaze, coruscate, glint, glisten, glister, glitter, scintillate, sparkle, twinkle), třpyt (coruscation, dazzle, glint, glitter, radiance, shimmer, shine, sparkle, twinkle), lesknout se (be sparkling clean, glint, glissade, glisten, shimmer, shine), lesk (brilliance, dazzle, glare, glitter, gloss, glossiness, luster, lustre, polish, radiance, refulgence, shimmer, shine, splendour), jiskřit se. (various references)

Farsi		پرتوانی , نورضعیف , نوردادن , تظاهرموقتی , سوسوزدن (Blink, Flicker, Glimmer, Shimmer), سوسو (Flicker). (various references)

Finnish		välkkyä (flash, glimmer, glitter, sparkle), välke (brilliance, clutter, glitter), väikkyä (glimmer, glitter), tuikkia (glimmer, twinkle), kiiltää (glisten, glitter, shine), kajastus (dawn, shimmer), hohtaa (radiate, shimmer, shine), hohde (lustre, sheen, shimmer). (various references)

French		rutiler (glitter, glow), resplendir, reflet (glance, glint), rayon de lumière, lumière (glow), luire (glimmer, glint, glisten), lueur (glance, glimmer, glimmering, glimpse, glint, glow), chatoyer (glint, glisten, glitter), briller (glimmer, glint, glitter), étinceler (glance, glisten). (various references)

German		schimmer (glances, glimmer, glimpse, glint, glints, luster, lustre, ray, rays, sheen, shimmer), glänzen (be shiny, finishing, glare, glisten, shine, sparkle, to gleam). (various references)

Greek		αναλαμπή (flare, flareup, flash, flicker). (various references)

Hebrew		ל�"איר קלושות, לב�"וק (glitter, glow, shine), לרשוף (flash, spark), ל� צ� ץ (flash, flicker, glimmer, glint, glisten, glitter, scintillate, shimmer, sparkle, twinkle), אור קלוש, � צוץ (flash, spark, trace), � צ� וץ (flash, flickering, glimmer, glimmering, glint, glistening, glitter, shimmer, sparkle, twinkle, twinkling). (various references)

Hungarian		villanás (blink, flash, flashing, glint), csillanás (blink, glint). (various references)

Indonesian		seri (draw), pancaran cahaya, denyaran (flash). (various references)

Italian		barlume (flicker, glimmer, glow, Ray, spark). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		煌めく (to glare, to gleam, to glisten, to glitter, to sparkle, to twinkle), 煌く (to glare, to gleam, to glisten, to glitter, to sparkle, to twinkle). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		きらめく (to glare, to gleam, to glisten, to glitter, to sparkle, to twinkle). (various references)

Korean		미광. (various references)

Manx		skelley (disappearance, gleaming), skell (glimpse; instant, lustre, shimmer), falleaysagh (flashing, flicker, gleaming). (various references)

Norwegian		glimte, glimt (flash, glimpse, glint), skinne (glare). (various references)

Pig Latin		eamglay

Portuguese		vislumbre (glance, glimmer, glimpse, Ray, twinkle), vislumbrar (catch a glimpse of, glimmer, glimpse), vítreo (amorphous, glassy, glazed, vitreous), reverberação (repercussion, reverberation), raio (bolt, lightning, lightning arrester, lightning flash, radius, ray, spoke, thunder, thunderbolt), raiar (break, Ray), claridade (blink, bright, brightness, clarity, day, light, lightness, limpidity, shine, sunshine, transparency), clarão (blink, flare, flash, Ray), cintilar (blink, flash, flicker, glimmer, glint, glisten, glister, glitter, Ray, scintillate, shine, sparkle, twinkle, wink), brilho débil, brilhar (burn, flame, flash, flourish, gland, glint, glisten, glister, glitter, irradiate, lamp, lighten, scintillate, shine, sparkle, twinkle). (various references)

Romanian		strãluci (beam, blaze, coruscate, dazzle, flame, flare, flash, glance, glare, glisten, glitter, glow, irradiate, light, radiate, scintillate, shine, sparkle, star), sclipire (brilliance, brilliancy, coruscation, flare, flash, glisten, glister, glitter, sheen, shimmer, shine, sparkle, twinkle), sclipi (glimmer, glimpse, glisten, glitter, lighten, shimmer, shine, sparkle, twinkle), scânteiere (glisten, glitter, scintillation, shaft, sparkle), scânteie (glance, spark, sparkle), scânteia (coruscate, flash, glance, glint, glisten, glitter, kindle, scintillate, spark, sparkle, twinkle), razã (beam, brightness, brilliance, brilliancy, compass, radiation, radius, Ray, shaft), luci (burnish, glance, glisten, shine, sparkle), licãri (flash, glance, glimmer, glimpse, glitter, scintillate, shimmer, shine, sparkle, twinkle, wink), licãr (spark, sparkle), fulgera (dumbfound, flash, fulminate, glitter, lighten, sparkle, strike, thunder), albi (blanch, bleach, fade, grizzle, hoary, shimmer, wash, whiten, whitewash). (various references)

Russian		светиться (glory, phosphoresce), слабый свет (rushlight), отблеск (glint, loom, reflex), проблеск (flash, glimmering, glimpse, peep). (various references)

Scottish		dèarrs, boisg, boillsg. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		zračak (ray), svetlucati (glimmer, glimpse, glint, glisten, glister, scintillate, shimmer, twinkle), sijati (beam, glitter, glow, shine), presijavati se, odsjaj (glint, reflection), odblesak (glance, luster, lustre, reflection). (various references)

Spanish		destello (beam, blink, coruscation, flare, flash, flashing, glint, spark, sparkle). (various references)

Swedish		stråle (beam, fire-stream, flash, frog, jet, radio, radius, Ray, shaft, spout, spurt, squirt, wireless), glimt (flash, glance, glimmer, glimpse, glint, tminkle, touch, twinkle), glimma (Bicker, glimmer, glitter, shimmer). (various references)

Thai		แสงที่เป็นประกาย, เปล่งประกาย. (various references)

Turkish		parlamak (beam, blaze, blink, coruscate, flare up, flash, fulminate, glare, glint, glisten, glitter, glow, light up, lighten, loose off at, shine, shine out, smile, sparkle, twinkle), parlaklık (brightness, brilliance, brilliancy, effulgence, flamboyance, flame, flashiness, glazing, glitter, glossiness, gorgeousness, incandescence, irradiance, lambency, liveliness, lucency, luminescence, luminosity, luster, lustre, lustrousness, polish, radiance, resplendence, sheen, shine, sleekness, splendidness, splendor, splendour, vividness), parıltı (blink, glance, glare, glint, glisten, glitter, glow, luster, lustre, Orient, shimmer), parıldamak (glance, glimmer, glitter, scintillate, shimmer, shine, sparkle, twinkle), pırıltı (blaze, dazzle, glisten, sheen, shimmer, spark of, sparkle, twinkle, twinkling), pırıldamak (Bicker, glitter, shimmer, wink), ışın yaymak (eradiate, radiate, Ray, ray out), ışın (bar, beam, Ray, shaft, streak), ışımak (beam, blaze, flare, light, light up, radiate, Ray, shine, sparkle), ışıldamak (blink, coruscate, glint, scintillate, shine, sparkle, twinkle), ışık (lamp, light, luminary, photo-). (various references)

Ukranian		світитися (glow, lighten, phosphoresce, stream), слабке світло, відбивати світло (glint), промінь (beam). (various references)

Vietnamese		tia sáng yếu ớt, tia. (various references)

Welsh		pelydru (beam, radiate), llewyrch (brightness, radiance). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Sumerian	3100 BCE-2500 BCE	�ur. (various references)
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	aura, aurae, auram, auris, candacis, candens, coruscatio, coruscationem, coruscationes, fulgeat, fulgebat, fulgebis, fulgebunt, fulgens, fulgentis, fulgere, fulgeret, fulget, fulgura, fulgurans, fulgurantis, fulgurare, fulserint, mico, refulgens, refulsit. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "gleam": gleamed, gleamer, gleamers, gleamier, gleamiest, gleaming, gleams, gleamy. (additional references)
	Words ending with "gleam": agleam. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Gleam" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Gaean, galam, galeae, geam, Gedamu, geemag, gelam, gelan, Gelau, gema, gesamt, Gilham, gillean, Gilzean, glae, glaim, Glame, glamm, glea, gleaf, gleap, gleat, gleem, Gleik, glein, glem, gleme, Glemm, gleo, gliom, gloak, gloan, gluma, glycan, Glyrm, Golema, gream, Gulam, lgium. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "gleam" (pronounced glē"m)
4	g l ē" m	agleam.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-e-g-l-m"
	-1 letter: alme, egal, gale, game, lame, mage, male, meal.
	-2 letters: age, ale, elm, gae, gal, gam, gel, gem, lag, lam, lea, leg, mae, mag, meg, mel.
	-3 letters: ae, ag, al, am, el, em, la, ma, me.
	Words containing the letters "a-e-g-l-m"
	+1 letter: agleam, gamble, gamely, gleams, gleamy, legman, maglev, malgre, mangel, mangle, milage.
	+2 letters: flagmen, gambled, gambler, gambles, gambrel, gamelan, geminal, gleamed, gleamer, gleeman, glomera, gomeral, gremial, maglevs, mangels, mangled, mangler, mangles, melange, meltage, milages, mileage, millage, moulage, plumage.
	+3 letters: aglimmer, almagest, amygdale, amygdule, amylogen, ballgame, beglamor, emailing, empaling, fugleman, gamblers, gamboled, gambrels, gamelans, gamelike, gelsemia, germinal, gimbaled, gladsome, glassmen, gleamers, gleamier, gleaming, gomerals, gremials, gunmetal, legalism, liegeman, ligament, magdalen, maligned, maligner, malinger, manglers, mangonel, meagerly, meagrely, mealybug, medaling, megadeal, megalith, megalops, megavolt, megillah, melanges, meltages, mesoglea, metaling, mileages, millages, moulages, mucilage, multiage, plumaged, plumages, remigial, semigala, smallage, tegminal, telegram.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.