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
Tugged away in a low-rise warehouse-turned-office in Guangzhou, the place is dotted with well-tended bonsai and staff sitting on bean bags behind glass meeting rooms.
Podcast is social: How China’s Lizhi makes audio interactive|Rita Liao|August 28, 2020|TechCrunch
It’s having all of the tools that you need to package it into the glass vials with the rubber stoppers, having the needles and the alcohol swabs to administer it, and then getting it to the people who need it.
Will a Covid-19 Vaccine Change the Future of Medical Research? (Ep. 430)|Stephen J. Dubner|August 27, 2020|Freakonomics
He thought that the sun could deliver an outsized push because it created vibrations at precisely the frequency of one of Laplace’s oscillations, much as an opera singer can shatter a wine glass with the right pitch.
Global Wave Discovery Ends 220-Year Search|Charlie Wood|August 13, 2020|Quanta Magazine
For decades, observing at the world’s biggest and best telescopes meant climbing into cramped spaces high above the mirror, juggling glass photographic plates and hunching over a camera through long chilly nights.
Social Distancing From the Stars|Emily Levesque|August 11, 2020|Quanta Magazine
A half-hour drive found us in a parking lot by a large glass building.
The Deck Is Not Rigged: Poker and the Limits of AI|Maria Konnikova|August 7, 2020|Singularity Hub
Instead of decorating every face on the street, Google Glass hit a contrarian rip tide.
You Were Wrong About Miley & Bitcoin: 2014’s Failed Predictions|Nina Strochlic|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You meant to chase every glass of wine with a pitcher of H2O, but the holiday cheer somehow steered you off course.
5 Hangover Cures to Save You After a Few Too Many|DailyBurn|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The resulting product included four single-cask variants along with finished pictures of McKidd enjoying a glass of The Macallan.
The Restaurant, Flask, And Photography Worthy of The Macallan Whisky||December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In The Lodger an ominous character paced the floor, which Hitchcock constructed of glass.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He manages to talk one of them into a glass or two, but for the most part he remains sober.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Morewood came back, sat down, and poured out a glass of wine.
Quisant|Anthony Hope
America at large flattens the 'a', and says 'glass of water.'
Alonzo Fitz and Other Stories|Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
A glass lantern slide is carefully cleaned and placed absolutely level.
The Mechanism of Life|Stphane Leduc
Soon the crashing of glass was heard, as stones were hurled at the dwellings of known Catholics.
Orange and Green|G. A. Henty
“Oh, pray take a glass with the young gentleman,” said Captain Bradshaw, with mock politeness.
The King's Own|Captain Frederick Marryat
British Dictionary definitions for glass (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: glassfulthe amount contained in a drinking glass
glassware collectively
See volcanic glass
See fibreglass
verb(tr)
to cover with, enclose in, or fit with glass
informalto hit (someone) in the face with a glass or a bottle
Derived forms of glass
glassless, adjectiveglasslike, adjective
Word Origin for glass
Old English glæs; related to Old Norse gler, Old High German glas, Middle High German glast brightness; see glare1
British Dictionary definitions for glass (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)
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.
glassesA 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.
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.