Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To shine with a subdued flickering light.
- intransitive verb To be reflected as a subdued, flickering light.
- noun A flickering or tremulous light; a glimmer.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To shine with a veiled, tremulous light; gleam faintly.
- noun A faint or veiled and tremulous gleam or shining.
- noun A workman in cabinet-work or other fine woodwork who fills up cracks or makes parts fit by the insertion of shims or thin pieces.
- In mech., to correct an inequality by inserting a thin slip or shim.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A faint, tremulous light; a gleaming; a glimmer.
- intransitive verb To shine with a tremulous or intermittent light; to shine faintly; to gleam; to glisten; to glimmer.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To
shine with aveiled ,tremulous , orintermittent light ; togleam faintly ; toglisten ; toglimmer . - noun A faint or veiled and tremulous gleam or
shining ; a glimmer.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb shine with a weak or fitful light
- verb give off a shimmering reflection, as of silk
- noun a weak and tremulous light
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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This dreamy shimmer is a tension that both sustains the poems idealism and exposes the ideological bind of proffering poetry as the thing to be done in political crisis
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As tiny, pretty mega-talent Cher Lloyd stepped on to the X Factor stage last month in shimmer foundation, squashed-spider eyelashes and over-pruned brows, only for Louis Walsh to trill, You're 16?
Slap shtick: How not to put on make-up Grace Dent 2010
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They call it a "shimmer" - a glint, a glitter, a glisten.
The Guardian World News Martin Amis 2009
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You type in -war" (knocking the errant hair aside as you strike the A), and watch the word shimmer like a line of phosphorescent battle dust on the PC screen.
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas Robbins, Tom 1994
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I used a creamier face and body shimmer, which is easier to work with than watery/gel-based products, which are good for the body but hard to work with on the face.
Best in Beauty Riku Campo 2010
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The texture of the lipstick is lovely, not too opaque and with slight "wet" shimmer, which is exactly what I like.
Weekend Beauty - Makeup: MAC Lavender Whip and Marina Geigert 2009
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The texture of the lipstick is lovely, not too opaque and with slight "wet" shimmer, which is exactly what I like.
Archive 2009-03-01 Marina Geigert 2009
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Galead saw the Stone set in the sword shimmer and pale.
Last Sword Of Power Gemmell, David 1988
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In order to sell flats to people who might not like the idea of council estates, the developers wanted what the architects call "shimmer".
The Guardian World News Rowan Moore 2011
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Giant honeybees are known to flip their bellies up en masse to create a giant wave called a shimmer, somewhat akin to humans rhythmically throwing their hands in the air in a wave at a football game.
alexz commented on the word shimmer
Spotted in the news as a card skimmer installed in the card slot of a banking machine. (shim / skimmer)
February 4, 2017
natalie_portmanteaux commented on the word shimmer
Shimmer, a portmanteau of shine and glimmer.
March 8, 2020