American Heritage Dictionary Entry: glass HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key. Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window. guide to the dictionary THE USAGE PANEL The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions. The Panelists NEED HELP SOLVING A CROSSWORD PUZZLE? Go to our Crossword Puzzle Solver and type in the letters that you know, and the Solver will produce a list of possible solutions. -- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more. OPEN DICTIONARY PROJECT Share your ideas for new words and new meanings of old words! Start Sharing Now! -- See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series! Find out more! INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES? Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com glass (glăs) Share: Tweet n. 1. 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. 2. Something made of glass or other transparent or translucent material, especially: a. A drinking vessel. b. A mirror. c. A barometer. d. A window or windowpane. e. The series of transparent plastic sheets that are secured vertically above the boards in many ice rinks. 3. a. glasses A pair of lenses mounted in a light frame, used to correct faulty vision or protect the eyes. b. often glasses A binocular or field glass. c. A device, such as a monocle or spyglass, containing a lens or lenses and used as an aid to vision. 4. The quantity contained by a drinking vessel; a glassful. 5. Objects made of glass; glassware. adj. 1. Made or consisting of glass. 2. Fitted with panes of glass; glazed. v. glassed, glass·ing, glass·es v.tr. 1. a. To enclose or encase with glass. b. To put into a glass container. c. To provide with glass or glass parts. 2. To make glassy; glaze. 3. a. To see reflected, as in a mirror. b. To reflect. 4. To scan (a tract of land or forest, for example) with an optical instrument. v.intr. 1. To become glassy. 2. To use an optical instrument, as in looking for game. [Middle English glas, from Old English glæs; see ghel-2 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Glass (glăs), Philip Born 1937. Share: Tweet American composer whose minimalist style of music contains elements of both rock and Indian music. His works include the opera Einstein on the Beach (1976). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices: Indo-European Roots Semitic Roots The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 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