glimpse Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a quick look
    glance; coup d'oeil.
  2. noun a brief or incomplete view
    • from the window he could catch a glimpse of the lake
  3. noun a vague indication
    • he caught only a glimpse of the professor's meaning
  4. verb catch a glimpse of or see briefly
    • We glimpsed the Queen as she got into her limousine

WordNet

Glimpse noun
Etymology
For glimse, from the root of glimmer.
Definitions
  1. A sudden flash; transient luster.
    LIght as the lightning glimpse they ran. Milton.
  2. A short, hurried view; a transitory or fragmentary perception; a quick sight.
    Here hid by shrub wood, there by glimpses seen. S. Rogers.
  3. A faint idea; an inkling.
Glimpse intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Glimpsed ; present participle & verbal noun Glimpsing
Definitions
  1. to appear by glimpses; to catch glimpses. Drayton.
Glimpse transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To catch a glimpse of; to see by glimpses; to have a short or hurried view of.
    Some glimpsing and no perfect sight. Chaucer.

Webster 1913