11 uses
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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
- You gave me my first glimpse of a real life, and at the same moment you asked me to go on with a sham one.Chapter 24 (58% in)
- He longed to question her, to hear more about the life of which her careless words had given him so illuminating a glimpse; but he feared to touch on distressing memories, and before he could think of anything to say she had strayed back to her original subject.Chapter 8 (70% in)
- But he was still dizzy with the glimpse of the precipice they had skirted, and full of a new awe at the mystery of young-girlhood.Chapter 16 (90% in)
- Perhaps the glimpse, among the anonymous spectators in the transept, of a dark coil of hair under a hat which, a moment later, revealed itself as belonging to an unknown lady with a long nose, so laughably unlike the person whose image she had evoked that he asked himself if he were becoming subject to hallucinations.Chapter 19 (61% in)
- If we made a dash for the National Gallery we might manage to catch a glimpse of the pictures.Chapter 20 (25% in)
- Behind him, the French windows of the drawing-rooms through which he had passed gave glimpses, between swaying lace curtains, of glassy parquet floors islanded with chintz poufs, dwarf armchairs, and velvet tables covered with trifles in silver.Chapter 21 (6% in)
- Beaufort was kind enough to send his famous trotters for me this morning, so that I might have at least a glimpse of one of Regina's garden-parties; but this evening I go back to rural life.Chapter 21 (30% in)
- Ellen—ELLEN!" she cried in her shrill old voice, trying to bend forward far enough to catch a glimpse of the lawn beyond the verandah.Chapter 21 (70% in)
- Lights were already shining through its windows, and Archer, as the carriage stopped, caught a glimpse of his father-in-law, exactly as he had pictured him, pacing the drawing-room, watch in hand and wearing the pained expression that he had long since found to be much more efficacious than anger.Chapter 21 (95% in)
- It was barely half-past ten; but what if the emissary, impatient for her reply, and not knowing how else to employ his time, were already seated among the travellers with cooling drinks at their elbows of whom Archer had caught a glimpse as she went in?Chapter 23 (70% in)
- He had had but one previous glimpse of it, during a holiday trip in which he had tried to pack all the sights he had been deprived of when he had had to go with the family to Switzerland; and tumultuous enthusiasm and cock-sure criticism tripped each other up on his lips.Chapter 34 (79% in)
There are no more uses of "glimpse" in The Age of Innocence.
Typical Usage
(best examples)