different between glint vs blink

English

Etymology

15th century. Borrowed from Scots glint; from Middle English glenten (“to shine, gleam; flash”); probably alteration of Old Norse [Term?]; from Middle High German glinzen; from Proto-Germanic *glintan?, *glintjan?; from Proto-Indo-European *??ley- (“to shine”). Cognate with Swedish glänta, glinta (“to slip, slide, gleam, shine”), Swedish glimt. Reintroduced into literary English by Robert Burns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?nt/
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

glint (plural glints)

1. A short flash of light.

   I saw the glint of metal as he raised the gun.

Translations

Adjective

glint (comparative more glint, superlative most glint)

1. (archaic, Shropshire, of a blade) Not sharp; dull.

   The knife is glint.

Verb

glint (third-person singular simple present glints, present participle glinting, simple past and past participle glinted)

1. (intransitive) To flash or gleam briefly.

   A wedding ring glinted on her finger.

2. (intransitive) To glance; to peep forth, as a flower from the bud; to glitter.
   • 1785, Robert Burns, The Holy Fair

     The rising sun owre Galston muirs, / Wi' glorious light was glintin'

3. (transitive) To cause to flash or gleam; to reflect.
   • 1980, Inquiry Magazine

     The scientists theorized that a meteoroid, ranging in size from a speck of dust to a marble, might have struck the satellite and chipped off a bit of debris that glinted a ray of sun back on the Vela's second sensor […]

4. (archaic, Shropshire, transitive) To dry; to wither.

   The sun glints grass and corn.

Translations

References

• Wright, Joseph (1900) The English Dialect Dictionary?^[1], volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pages 644–645

English

Etymology

From Middle English blynken, blenken, from Old English *blincan (suggested by causative verb blen?an (“to deceive”); > English blench), from Proto-Germanic *blinkan?, a variant of *bl?kan? (“to gleam, shine”). Cognate with Dutch blinken (“to glitter, shine”), German blinken (“to flash, blink”), Danish blinke (“to flash, twinkle, wink, blink”), Swedish blinka (“to flash, blink, twinkle, wink, blink”). Related to blank, blick, blike, bleak.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bl??k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Verb

blink (third-person singular simple present blinks, present participle blinking, simple past and past participle blinked)

1. (intransitive) To close and reopen both eyes quickly.
   1. (transitive) To close and reopen one's eyes to remove (something) from on or around the eyes.

   2. To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye.
   3. To see with the eyes half shut, or indistinctly and with frequent winking, as a person with weak eyes.
   4. To shine, especially with intermittent light; to twinkle; to flicker; to glimmer, as a lamp.
      • 1800, William Wordsworth, The Pet-Lamb

        The dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink.
2. To flash on and off at regular intervals.
   1. To flash headlights on a car at.

   2. To send a signal with a lighting device.

3. (hyperbolic) To perform the smallest action that could solicit a response.
   • 1980, Billy Joel, “Don't Ask Me Why”, Glass Houses, Columbia Records

     All the waiters in your grand cafe / Leave their tables when you blink.

4. (transitive) To shut out of sight; to evade; to shirk.

5. (Scotland) To trick; to deceive.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Jamieson to this entry?)

6. To turn slightly sour, or blinky, as beer, milk, etc.
7. (science fiction, video games) To teleport, mostly for short distances.

Synonyms

• (close and open both eyes quickly): nictitate

Translations

Noun

blink (plural blinks)

1. The act of very quickly closing both eyes and opening them again.
2. (figuratively) The time needed to close and reopen one's eyes.
3. (computing) A text formatting feature that causes text to disappear and reappear as a form of visual emphasis.
   • 2007, Cheryl D. Wise, Foundations of Microsoft Expression Web: The Basics and Beyond (page 150)

     I can think of no good reason to use blink because blinking text and images are annoying, they mark the creator as an amateur, and they have poor browser support.

4. A glimpse or glance.

   • This is the first blink that ever I had of him.

5. (Britain, dialect) gleam; glimmer; sparkle
   • 1835, William Wordsworth, Address from the Spirit of Cockermouth Castle

     Not a blink of light was there.
6. (nautical) The dazzling whiteness about the horizon caused by the reflection of light from fields of ice at sea; iceblink
7. (sports, in the plural) Boughs cast where deer are to pass, in order to turn or check them.
8. (video games) An ability that allows teleporting, mostly for short distances

Related terms

Translations

Danish

Verb

blink

1. imperative of blinke

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -??k

Verb

blink

1. first-person singular present indicative of blinken
2. imperative of blinken

German

Verb

blink

1. singular imperative of blinken
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of blinken

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From the verb blinke

Pronunciation

Noun

blink m (definite singular blinken, indefinite plural blinker, definite plural blinkene)

1. a target, bullseye

Synonyms

• skyteskive

Derived terms

• midt i blinken

Noun

blink n

1. lightning

Derived terms

• blinklys

See also

• lynglimt

Verb

blink

1. imperative of blinke

References

• “blink” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From the verb blinke

Noun

blink m (definite singular blinken, indefinite plural blinkar, definite plural blinkane)

1. a target, bullseye

Synonyms

• skyteskive

Derived terms

• augneblink

Verb

blink

1. imperative of blinka

References

• “blink” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.