Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An open space in a forest.
  • noun A tract of marshland.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The common buzzard, Buteo vulgaris.
  • noun An open space in a wood or forest, either natural or artificially made; especially, such an opening used as a place for catching game; an opening or passage through a wood.
  • noun An opening in the ice of rivers or lakes, or a place left unfrozen; also, a space of smooth ice or an ice-covered surface: as, the path was a glade of ice.
  • noun An everglade.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest.
  • noun Local, U. S. An everglade.
  • noun Local, U. S. An opening in the ice of rivers or lakes, or a place left unfrozen; also, smooth ice.
  • noun See under Bottom.
  • noun in England, a net used for catching woodcock and other birds in forest glades.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest.
  • noun colloquial An everglade.
  • noun an open space in the ice on a river or lake
  • noun a bright surface of snow/ice ... a glade of ice
  • noun obsolete a gleam of light; see moonglade
  • noun obsolete a bright patch of sky; the bright space between clouds

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a tract of land with few or no trees in the middle of a wooded area

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, perhaps from glad, bright and shining; see glad.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, glāde ("A gleam of light, bright space, an open space; an open or cleared space in a forest; a bright patch of sky; a bright surface of snow or ice"), also glode, glede, from Old English glæd ("shining, bright"), (cf Old Norse glaðr ("bright")).

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Examples

  • In the latter days of a ferocious winter, the sun dropped earthwards, having on this day pulled clear of its sluggish trajectory casting a few meek rays on the redoubtable snow and frost of the mountain glade.

    Vignette: A Writing Exercise « Write Anything 2009

  • On either side of the glade was a fence, of the old stake-and-rider type, though little of it was to be seen, so thickly was it overgrown by wild blackberry bushes, scrubby oaks and young madrono trees.

    THE HOBO AND THE FAIRY 2010

  • Justen's eyes clouded for a moment, recalling the glade, the stream, Dayala.

    The Order War Modesitt, L. E. 1995

  • In the center of the glade was a table, set for three.

    Elvenblood Lackey, Mercedes 1995

  • Justen's eyes clouded for a moment, recalling the glade, the stream, Dayala.

    The Order War Modesitt, L. E. 1995

  • The villa of white marble was built on a gentle rising knoll, prettily wooded, at the foot of which running through a glade was a tiny streamlet clear as crystal, which with its ripple and the singing of the birds lent music to the air.

    A Heart-Song of To-day Annie Gregg Savigny

  • The glade was a little world in itself, with visitors and tenants, comedy and tragedy, sounds and silences.

    Edge of the Jungle William Beebe 1919

  • It was a lawn of sweet close turf in the center of the matted brake, of clean firm earth from which no shameful growth sprouted, and near the middle of the glade was a stump of a felled yew-tree, left untrimmed by the woodman.

    The Hill of Dreams Arthur Machen 1905

  • And in the midst of the glade was a grave that had not been made many months, and a granite stone stood at the head.

    Frank Merriwell's Cruise Burt L. Standish 1905

  • On either side of the glade was a fence, of the old stake-and-rider type, though little of it was to be seen, so thickly was it overgrown by wild blackberry bushes, scrubby oaks and young madrono trees.

    The Turtles of Tasman Jack London 1896

Comments

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  • from ME glāde (n) ... also glode, glede; from OE *gæld, *gæld bright place (see glæd adj.)

    (a) a gleam of light (moonglade) ... thus:

    (b) A bright space, an open space (everglade); also, an open or cleared space in a forest;

    (c) a bright patch of sky; the bright space between clouds

    (d) a bright surface of snow/ice ... a glade of ice

    (e) an open space in the ice on a river or lake

    November 14, 2011