glitter

From Middle English gliteren, from Old Norse glitra, from Proto-Germanic *glitrōną (“to glitter”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley-.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɪtə(ɹ)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɪtɚ/, [ˈɡlɪɾɚ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)

glitter (countable and uncountable, plural glitters)

1. A bright, sparkling light; shininess or brilliance.
   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 57.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:

     As yet there had been no symptom of the news having any better foundation than in the fears of those who brought it, but The Boot had not been deserted five minutes, when there appeared, coming across the fields, a body of men who, it was easy to see, by the glitter of their arms and ornaments in the sun, and by their orderly and regular mode of advancing.

   • 1913, Mary Averill, Japanese flower arrangement, Chapter 20:

     This to them seems most like mother earth in color, and therefore best, as it is, to enhance the beauty of flowers instead of detracting from their exquisite shades. What a contrast to the glitter and show of our silver vases, which represent generally little else but their cost.

2. A shiny, decorative adornment, sometimes sprinkled on glue to make simple artwork.
3. (figurative) Glitz.

• → Portuguese: glitter
• → Spanish: glitter

glitter (third-person singular simple present glitters, present participle glittering, simple past and past participle glittered)

1. To sparkle with light; to shine with a brilliant and broken light or showy luster; to gleam.

   a glittering sword

   the glittering ornaments on a Christmas tree

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     The field yet glitters with the pomp of war.

2. To be showy, specious, or striking, and hence attractive.

   the glittering scenes of a court

• aglitter
• all that glitters is not gold
• glitterati

Unadapted borrowing from English glitter.

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɡli.teʁ/

glitter m (uncountable)

1. glitter (shiny, decorative dust)

Unadapted borrowing from English glitter.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡliteɾ/ [ˈɡli.t̪eɾ]
• Rhymes: -iteɾ

glitter m (plural glitteres)

1. glitter

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Probably from Old Norse glitra.

glitter n (uncountable)

1. glitter (glittering)
2. glitter (a shiny, decorative adornment, sometimes sprinkled on glue)
3. tinsel (shiny foil, often strung on a thread)

   julgransglitter

   tinsel garlands put on a Christmas tree

• glittra
• glittrig

• glitter in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• glitter in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)