# glimpse

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɡlɪm(p)s/ · frequency rank #9,475

## Definitions
1. To see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.
2. To perceive (something intangible) briefly and incompletely.
3. Chiefly followed by at or upon: to look at briefly and incompletely; to glance.
4. To shine with a faint, unsteady light; to glimmer, to shimmer.
5. To appear or start to appear, especially faintly or unclearly; to dawn.
6. Sometimes followed by out: to provide a brief and incomplete look.

## Etymology
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”)

## Common misspellings (11)
`gglimpse`, `gilmpse`, `glimmpse`, `glimpes`, `glimppse`, `glimpsse`, `glimspe`, `glipmse`, `gllimpse`, `glmipse`, `lgimpse`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/glimpse