gleam

noun

1. (countable)An appearance of light, especially one which is indistinct or small, or short-lived.

   “Is not yon gleame, the ſhuddering morne that flakes, / VVith ſiluer tinctur, the eaſt vierge of heauen?”

   “Sailing between 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: […]”

   “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.”

   “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!”

   “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.”

2. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)An indistinct sign of something; a glimpse or hint.

   “The rescue workers preserved a gleam of optimism that the trapped miners might still survive.”

   “On the fifteenth of June a gleam of hope appeared.”

3. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)A bright, but intermittent or short-lived, appearance of something.
4. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)A look of joy or liveliness on one's face.

   “[H]is black visage lighted up with a curious, mischievous gleam.”

   “Sunny, thank you for that smile upon your face / Sunny, thank you, thank you for the gleam that flows its grace”

   “Got no money to spend / not a dime or a friend / Yet things are gonna go my way / Got the sun in the sky, and a gleam in my eye / Not gonna think of yesterday”

5. (countable, obsolete)Sometimes as hot gleam: a warm ray of sunlight; also, a period of warm weather, for instance, between showers of rain.

   “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?”

   “[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.”

6. (obsolete, uncountable)Brightness or shininess; radiance, splendour.

   “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: […]”

   “In the clear azure gleam the flocks are ſeen, / And floating foreſts paint the vvaves vvith green.”

verb

1. (transitive)Chiefly in conjunction with an adverb: to cause (light) to shine.

   “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.”

2. (intransitive)To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.

   “Quick to redeem the Prey their plighted Lords / Advance, the Palace gleams vvith ſhining Svvords.”

   “Beneath an oak he laid him down, / That in the blaze gleamed ruddy brown, […]”

   “Green as a liquid emerald, or the hue / Of the green grape, in autumn sunshine growing! / Even as thou gleamest this golden summer's day!”

   “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.”

   “King angels hover round thee, as thou dreamest: / Soft lashes hide they beauteous azure eye which gleamest.”

3. (figuratively, intransitive)To be strongly but briefly apparent.

   “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.”

4. (intransitive, obsolete)Of a hawk or other bird of prey: to disgorge filth from its crop or gorge.

   “Gleam, a term uſed after a hawk hath caſt and gleameth, or throweth up filth from her gorge.”