Glass Meaning
/ɡlɑːs/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn amorphous solid, often transparent substance, usually made by melting silica sand with various additives (for most purposes, a mixture of soda, potash and lime is added).
nounAny amorphous solid (one without a regular crystal lattice).
Sentence Examples
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
Is this your glass or your sister's?
She cut her finger on a piece of glass.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The window is made of clear ____ that you can see through easily.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please be careful not to drop the ____ pitcher, as it is very fragile and will shatter into many pieces.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English glas, from Old English glæs, from Proto-West Germanic *glas, from Proto-Germanic *glasą, possibly related to Proto-Germanic *glōaną (“to shine”) (compare glow), and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰleh₁- (“to shine, shimmer, glow”). Cognate with West Frisian glês, Low German and German Glas, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish glas, Norwegian Bokmål glass, Icelandic gler.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight."
— 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:
"Here was my chance. I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.[…]In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass."
— 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
"Beholding her charms in the glaſs, ſhe wandered over a wilderneſs of vain fancies."
— 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 11:
"As of old, he took down his portable glass hanging on a nail, and carefully wiping it, replaced it in its case."
— 1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 216:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The window is made of clear ____ that you can see through easily.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Please be careful not to drop the ____ pitcher, as it is very fragile and will shatter into many pieces.