glass

[ glas, glahs ]

/ glæs, glɑs /

noun

a hard, brittle, noncrystalline, more or less transparent substance produced by fusion, usually consisting of mutually dissolved silica and silicates that also contain soda and lime, as in the ordinary variety used for windows and bottles.

any artificial or natural substance having similar properties and composition, as fused borax, obsidian, or the like.

something made of such a substance, as a windowpane.

a tumbler or other comparatively tall, handleless drinking container.

glasses, Also called eyeglasses. a device to compensate for defective vision or to protect the eyes from light, dust, and the like, consisting usually of two glass or plastic lenses set in a frame that includes a nosepiece for resting on the bridge of the nose and two sidepieces extending over or around the ears (usually used with pair of). Compare goggle(def 1a), pince-nez, spectacle(def 3).

a mirror.

things made of glass, collectively; glassware: They used to collect old glass.

a glassful.

a lens, especially one used as a magnifying glass.

a spyglass.

adjective

made of glass: a glass tray.

furnished or fitted with panes of glass; glazed.

verb (used with object)

to fit with panes of glass.

cover with or encase in glass.

to coat or cover with fiberglass: to glass the hull of a boat.

to scan with a spyglass or other optical instrument.

to reflect: Trees glassed themselves in the lake.

Origin of glass

before 900; Middle English glas (noun), Old English glæs; cognate with Dutch, German Glas

OTHER WORDS FROM glass

glass·less, adjective glass·like, adjective non·glass, adjective un·glassed, adjective

Words nearby glass

glasgow, glashow, glasnost, glaspell, glasphalt, glass, glass block, glass can, glass ceiling, glass cliff, glass curtain

Example sentences from the Web for glasslike

He gazed dully up at a lustrous, glasslike substance that arched above him.

When the Sleepers Woke |Arthur Leo Zagat
On this plot sat a gigantic spherical machine of a glasslike material.

Astounding Stories of Super-Science April 1930 |Various
The glasslike water flowed right against it, its surface reaching up almost to the threshold.

A Voyage to Arcturus |David Lindsay
At times we can produce strange, glasslike effects by purposely mixing non-harmonic tones.

Piano Playing |Josef Hofmann

The illusion was there to the eye, but no wood ever had such a hard, smooth, glasslike surface as this.

Viewpoint |Gordon Randall Garrett

British Dictionary definitions for glasslike (1 of 2)

glass

/ (ɡlɑːs) /

noun

a hard brittle transparent or translucent noncrystalline solid, consisting of metal silicates or similar compounds. It is made from a fused mixture of oxides, such as lime, silicon dioxide, etc, and is used for making windows, mirrors, bottles, etc
(as modifier)a glass bottle Related adjectives: vitreous, vitric

any compound that has solidified from a molten state into a noncrystalline form

something made of glass, esp a drinking vessel, a barometer, or a mirror

Also called: glassful the amount contained in a drinking glass

glassware collectively

See volcanic glass

See fibreglass

verb (tr)

to cover with, enclose in, or fit with glass

informal to hit (someone) in the face with a glass or a bottle

Derived forms of glass

glassless, adjective glasslike, adjective

Word Origin for glass

Old English glæs; related to Old Norse gler, Old High German glas, Middle High German glast brightness; see glare 1

British Dictionary definitions for glasslike (2 of 2)

Glass

/ (ɡlɑːs) /

noun

Philip. born 1937, US composer noted for his minimalist style: his works include Music in Fifths (1970), Akhnaten (1984), The Voyage (1992), and Monsters of Grace (1998); his film music includes scores for Kundun (1998), The Truman Show (1999), and The Hours (2002)

Medical definitions for glasslike

glass

[ glăs ]

n.

Any of a large class of materials with highly variable mechanical and optical properties that solidify from the molten state without crystallization, are typically made by silicates fusing with boric oxide, aluminum oxide, or phosphorus pentoxide, are generally hard, brittle, and transparent or translucent, and are considered to be supercooled liquids rather than true solids.

Something usually made of glass, such as a window, mirror, or drinking vessel.

glasses A pair of lenses mounted in a light frame, used to correct faulty vision or protect the eyes. spectacles

A device, such as a monocle or spyglass, containing a lens or lenses and used as an aid to vision.

Scientific definitions for glasslike

glass

[ glăs ]

A usually transparent or translucent material that has no crystalline structure yet behaves like a solid. Common glass is generally composed of a silicate (such as silicon oxide, or quartz) combined with an alkali and sometimes other substances. The glass used in windows and windshields, called soda glass, is made by melting a silicate with sodium carbonate (soda) and calcium oxide (lime). Other types of glass are made by adding other chemical compounds. Adding boron oxide causes some silicon atoms to be replaced by boron atoms, resulting in a tougher glass that remains solid at high temperatures, used for cooking utensils and scientific apparatuses. Glass used for decorative purposes often has iron in it to alter its optical properties.

A Closer Look

Common sand and glass are both made primarily of silicon and oxygen, yet sand is opaque and glass is transparent. Glass owes its transparency partly to the fact that it is not a typical solid. On the molecular level, solids usually have a highly regular, three-dimensional crystalline structure; the regularities distributed throughout the solid act as mirrors that scatter incoming light. Glass, however, consists of molecules which, though relatively motionless like a typical solid, are not arranged in regular patterns and thus exhibit little scattering; light passes directly through. At a specific temperature, called the melting point, the intermolecular forces holding together the components of a typical solid can no longer maintain the regular structure, which then breaks down, and the material undergoes a phase transition from solid to liquid. The phase transition in glass, however, depends on how quickly the glass is heated (or how quickly it cools), due to its irregular solid structure.

Idioms and Phrases with glasslike

glass

In addition to the idioms beginning with glass

glass ceiling
glass is half full, the

also see:

people who live in glass houses

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

glass