All 3 Uses of

glimpse
in
Northanger Abbey

As they drew near the end of their journey, her impatience for a sight of the abbey—for some time suspended by his conversation on subjects very different—returned in full force, and every bend in the road was expected with solemn awe to afford a glimpse of its massy walls of grey stone, rising amidst a grove of ancient oaks, with the last beams of the sun playing in beautiful splendour on its high Gothic windows.†
Chpt 20

glimpse = a quick look or partial understanding

They all attended in the hall to see him mount his horse, and immediately on re-entering the breakfast-room, Catherine walked to a window in the hope of catching another glimpse of his figure.†
Chpt 22 *

In support of the plausibility of this conjecture, it further occurred to her that the forbidden gallery, in which lay the apartments of the unfortunate Mrs. Tilney, must be, as certainly as her memory could guide her, exactly over this suspected range of cells, and the staircase by the side of those apartments of which she had caught a transient glimpse, communicating by some secret means with those cells, might well have favoured the barbarous proceedings of her husband.†
Chpt 23

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