All 15 Uses of
glimpse
in
Moby Dick
- If I had been astonished at first catching a glimpse of so outlandish an individual as Queequeg circulating among the polite society of a civilized town, that astonishment soon departed upon taking my first daylight stroll through the streets of New Bedford.†
Chpt 4-6glimpse = a quick look or partial understanding
- At my first glimpse of the pulpit, it had not escaped me that however convenient for a ship, these joints in the present instance seemed unnecessary.†
Chpt 7-9
- But as soon as the first glimpse of sun entered the window, up he got, with stiff and grating joints, but with a cheerful look; limped towards me where I lay; pressed his forehead again against mine; and said his Ramadan was over.†
Chpt 16-18
- Glimpses do ye seem to see of that mortally intolerable truth; that all deep, earnest thinking is but the intrepid effort of the soul to keep the open independence of her sea; while the wildest winds of heaven and earth conspire to cast her on the treacherous, slavish shore?†
Chpt 22-24glimpses = briefly sees; or instances of briefly seeing
- Now, in his heart, Ahab had some glimpse of this, namely: all my means are sane, my motive and my object mad.†
Chpt 40-42 *glimpse = a quick look or partial understanding
- I do not wish to seem inelegant, but this unsightly whale looks much like an amputated sow; and, as for the narwhale, one glimpse at it is enough to amaze one, that in this nineteenth century such a hippogriff could be palmed for genuine upon any intelligent public of schoolboys.†
Chpt 55-57
- Then, again, in mountainous countries where the traveller is continually girdled by amphitheatrical heights; here and there from some lucky point of view you will catch passing glimpses of the profiles of whales defined along the undulating ridges.†
Chpt 55-57glimpses = briefly sees; or instances of briefly seeing
- Whatever superstitions the sperm whalemen in general have connected with the sight of this object, certain it is, that a glimpse of it being so very unusual, that circumstance has gone far to invest it with portentousness.†
Chpt 58-60glimpse = a quick look or partial understanding
- For this part of the Indian Ocean through which we then were voyaging is not what whalemen call a lively ground; that is, it affords fewer glimpses of porpoises, dolphins, flying-fish, and other vivacious denizens of more stirring waters, than those off the Rio de la Plata, or the in-shore ground off Peru.†
Chpt 61-63glimpses = briefly sees; or instances of briefly seeing
- Not the wondrous cistern in the whale's huge head; not the prodigy of his unhinged lower jaw; not the miracle of his symmetrical tail; none of these would so surprise you, as half a glimpse of that unaccountable cone,—longer than a Kentuckian is tall, nigh a foot in diameter at the base, and jet-black as Yojo, the ebony idol of Queequeg.†
Chpt 94-96glimpse = a quick look or partial understanding
- Here Saturn's grey chaos rolls over me, and I obtain dim, shuddering glimpses into those Polar eternities; when wedged bastions of ice pressed hard upon what are now the Tropics; and in all the 25,000 miles of this world's circumference, not an inhabitable hand's breadth of land was visible.†
Chpt 103-105glimpses = briefly sees; or instances of briefly seeing
- Thrusting his head half way into the binnacle, Ahab caught one glimpse of the compasses; his uplifted arm slowly fell; for a moment he almost seemed to stagger.†
Chpt 124-126glimpse = a quick look or partial understanding
- But though when she had thus sailed a sufficient distance to gain the presumed place of the absent ones when last seen; though she then paused to lower her spare boats to pull all around her; and not finding anything, had again dashed on; again paused, and lowered her boats; and though she had thus continued doing till daylight; yet not the least glimpse of the missing keel had been seen.†
Chpt 127-129
- She promised that my boy, every morning, should be carried to the hill to catch the first glimpse of his father's sail!†
Chpt 130-132
- One after the other, through the port-holes, as he sped, he also caught flying glimpses of Stubb and Flask, busying themselves on deck among bundles of new irons and lances.†
Chpt 133-135glimpses = briefly sees; or instances of briefly seeing
Definition:
a quick look or partial understanding
The exact meaning of glimpse can depend upon its context. For example:
- "I caught a glimpse of her when I was walking to class." -- a very quick look
- "I glimpsed at the headlines." -- looked quickly
- "Reading the book gave me a glimpse of the life of a devout Muslim immigrant in America." -- a quick, incomplete view