Definition of "gleam"
gleam1
noun
countable and uncountable, plural gleams
(countable) An appearance of light, especially one which is indistinct or small, or short-lived.
Quotations
Is not yon gleame, the ſhuddering morne that flakes, / VVith ſiluer tinctur, the eaſt vierge of heauen?
c. 1599 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], The History of Antonio and Mellida. The First Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Mathewe Lownes, and Thomas Fisher, […], published 1602, Act III, signature D4, verso
Sailing betvveen Madagaſcar and Zeyloon (at or Near this place) in a dark night ſuddenly there happened a gleam of light, ſo bright that he could eaſily read by it. Amazed he vvas at this alteration; but at length perceived it vvas occaſioned by a number of Fiſh, vvhoſe glittering ſhells made that artificial light in the night, and gave the Sea a vvhite repercuſſion: […]
1677, Tho Wright, and R. Chiswell, page 30
VVhat a gloom hangs all around! The dying lamp feebly emits a yellovv gleam, no ſound is heard but of the chiming clock, or the diſtant vvatch-dog.
1760, Oliver Goldsmith, “Letter CXVII. To the Same [From Lien Chi Altangi, to Fum Hoam, First President of the Ceremonial Academy at Pekin, in China].”, in The Citizen of the World: Or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, […] (Parsons’s Select British Classics; XXIX), volume II, London: […] J[ohn] Parsons, […], published 1794, page 173
Ah! then, if mine had been the Painter's hand, / To express what then I saw; and add the gleam, / The light that never was, on sea or land, / The consecration, and the Poet's dream; // I would have planted thee, thou hoary Pile! / Amid a world how different from this!
1807, William Wordsworth, “Elegiac Stanzas, […]”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume II, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], page 142
But a faint and partial gleam of sunshine broke through the aperture, and made yet more cheerless the dreary aspect and gloomy appurtenances of the cell.
1838, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The Novice”, in “Leila; or, The Siege of Granada”, in Leila; or, The Siege of Granada: And Calderon, the Courtier. […], London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans; Paris: Delloy and Co., book V, page 238
And some of the soldiers since declare / That the gleam of his old white hat afar, / Like the crested plume of the brave Navarre, / That day was their oriflamme of war.
1868 May 9, Fr[ancis] Bret Harte, “John Burns of Gettysburg”, in Littel’s Living Age, volume IX (4th Series; volume XCVII overall), number 1249, Boston, Mass.: Littel & Gay, page 322, column 2
(countable, figuratively)
A look of joy or liveliness on one's face.
Quotations
[H]is black visage lighted up with a curious, mischievous gleam.
1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Discovery”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume I, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, page 72
(obsolete)
(countable) Sometimes as hot gleam: a warm ray of sunlight; also, a period of warm weather, for instance, between showers of rain.
Quotations
The Pepper-trees live in Italie; the ſhrub of Caſia or the Canell likevviſe in the Northerly regions; the Frankincenſe tree alſo hath been knovvne to live in Lydia: but vvhere vvere the hote gleames of the Sunne to be found in thoſe regions, either to drie up the vvateriſh humor of the one, or to concot and thicken the gumme and roſin of the other?
1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XVI.] Of Certaine Prodigious Trees, and Presages Observed by Them. By what Meanes Trees Grow of Their Owne Accord. That All Plants Grow Not Every Where: And what Trees They be that are Appropriate to Certaine Regions, and are Not Elsewhere to be Found.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, page 478
[W]e felt a brisk gale coming from off the Coaſt of America, but ſo violently hot, that vve thought it came from ſome burning Mountain on the ſhore, and vvas like the heat from the mouth of an Oven. Juſt ſuch another gleam I felt one afternoon alſo, as I lay anchor at the Groin in July 1694. it came vvith a Southerly VVind: both theſe vvere follovved by a Thunder-ſhovver.
1697, William Dampier, chapter XIX, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], page 530
(uncountable) Brightness or shininess; radiance, splendour.
Quotations
Then vvas the faire Dodonian tree far ſeene, / Vpon ſeauen hills to ſpread his gladſome gleame, / And conquerours bedecked vvith his greene, / Along the bancks of the Auſonian ſtreame: […]
1591, Joachim du Bellay, “The Visions of Bellay”, in Ed[mund] Sp[enser], transl., Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], part 5, signature Y3, recto
gleam2
verb
third-person singular simple present gleams, present participle gleaming, simple past and past participle gleamed
(transitive) Chiefly in conjunction with an adverb: to cause (light) to shine.
Quotations
Many a dry drop ſeem'd a vveeping teare, / Shed for the ſlaughtred husband by the vvife. / The red bloud reek'd to ſhevv the Painters ſtrife, / And dying eyes gleem'd forth their aſhie lights, / Like dying coales burnt out in tedious nights.
1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], signature K, verso
(intransitive)
To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.
Quotations
There, near the ruins of the Oscan's old Atella, rises Aversa, once the strong hold of the Norman; there gleam the columns of Capua, above the Vulturnian Stream.
1842, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter V, in Zanoni. […], volume I, London: Saunders & Otley, […], book the first (The Musician), pages 50–51
Hail, thou overshadowing mount of the Holy Ghost [i.e., Mary, mother of Jesus]. Thou gleamedst, sweet gift-bestowing mother, of the light of the sun; thou gleamedst with the insupportable fires of a most fervent charity, […]
1869, Methodius, “Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna on the Day that They Met in the Temple. The Oration Likewise Treats of the Holy Mother of God.”, in William R[obinson] Clark, transl., edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, The Writings of Methodius, Alexander of Lycopolis, Peter of Alexandria, and Several Fragments (Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325; XIV), Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, […]; London: Hamilton & Co.; Dublin: John Robertson & Co., paragraph XIV, page 209
(figuratively) To be strongly but briefly apparent.
Quotations
Mr. Crawley spoke these words without hesitation, even with eloquence, standing upright, and with something of a noble anger gleaming over his poor wan face; and, I think that while speaking them, he was happier than he had been for many a long day.
1867, Anthony Trollope, “The Bishop’s Angel”, in The Last Chronicle of Barset. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], page 109