glime

G2L1I1M3E1
/ɡlaɪm/

verb

To glance (at); to look sideways.

First used 17th c.Scrabble 8

Meanings

verbglime (third-person singular simple present glimes, present participle gliming, simple past and past participle glimed)

present singular third person glimes · participle present gliming · participle past glimed · past glimed · alternative obsolete glyme

  1. UKdialectalintransitiveTo glance (at); to look sideways.First known use 17th c.

    A silence falls in the four-wheeler for the rest of the road home. Felix looking straight ahead and concentrating on his driving. The girls asleep in each other's arms on the back seat. And me occasionally gliming in the rear-view mirror. The dark eyes of the Romany woman.

    1999, John F. McDonald, chapter 9, in Tribe, Dublin: Wolfhound Press, →ISBN, page 71
    2 more examples

    He was gliming at her from closer range now, and in her position—for he held her still—she could not help but glime back. He looked so humble—penitent for once, yet reproachful, his own eyes moist, and, withal, the old, audacious David, that in her own despite her anger waned.

    1898, Alfred Ollivant, “The Storm Breaks” (chapter XXII), in Owd Bob: The Grey Dog of Kenmuir, London: Methuen & Co., page 212

    And on Sunday evenings, while the Primitives were singing a hymn outside their chapel before going in for service, she would be tripping past, lightly shod, and wearing a hat with an ostrich feather, on her way to town, where a German band played sacred music on the promenade, and young people, walking arm-in-arm, laughed and "glimed" at each other under the gas-light.

    1921, Hall Caine, “The Call of Bessie Collister” (chapter 8), in The Master of Man: The Story of a Sin, Philadelphia; London: J.B. Lippincott Company, page 73
nounglime (plural glimes)

plural glimes · alternative obsolete glyme

  1. UKdialectalintransitiveA sideways glance.First known use late 19th c.

    ‘Aw, ye wouldn't think it's true, would ye, now?’ said Ned, with a wink at Dan and a ‘glime’ at Davy.

    1887, Hall Caine, “The First Night with the Herrings” (chapter X), in The Deemster, London: Chatto & Windus, page 218

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*glīmô
  2. Norwegian Nynorskglim“glimpse, glimmer”
  3. Scotsglim“glance, glimpse”
  4. Middle Englishglimme“radiance, brightness”
  5. Englishglime

Of uncertain origin. Probably from Middle English glimme (“radiance, brightness”) (whence glim), Scots glim (“glance, glimpse”) or Norwegian Nynorsk glim (“glimpse, glimmer”), all from Proto-Germanic *glīmô. Compare glim, gleam, glimmer, glimpse. The noun is derived from the verb.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with glime

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Sounds the same

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

glime. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glime

MLA

“glime.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glime. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “glime,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glime.

Source: glime on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.