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Gleam vs Blaze - What's the difference?

gleam | blaze |

As nouns the difference between gleam and blaze

is that gleam is a small or indistinct shaft or stream of light while blaze is a fire, especially a fast-burning fire producing a lot of flames and light.

As verbs the difference between gleam and blaze

is that gleam is to shine; to glitter; to glisten while blaze is to be on fire, especially producing a lot of flames and light.

gleam

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • a small or indistinct shaft or stream of light.
  • * Longfellow
    • A glimmer, and then a gleam of light.
  • a glimpse or hint; an indistinct sign of something.
    • The rescue workers preserved a gleam of optimism that they might still survive.
  • brightness or shininess; splendor.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • In the clear azure gleam the flocks are seen.

    Synonyms

    * (small shaft or stream of light) beam, ray * (glimpse or indistinct sign) flicker, glimmer, trace * (brightness or splendor) dazzle, lambency, shine

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To shine; to glitter; to glisten.
  • To be briefly but strongly apparent.
  • (obsolete, falconry) To disgorge filth, as a hawk.

    • Synonyms

    * glint, sparkle * (to radiate or emanate) glow, shine * (to be briefly but strongly apparent) flare, flash, kindle

    See also

    * leam

    References

    * * * *

    blaze

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) blase, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fire, especially a fast-burning fire producing a lot of flames and light.
  • *
  • *:Long after his cigar burnt bitter, he sat with eyes fixed on the blaze . When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs and ball-gown kneeling on the hearth and heaping kindling on the coals,.
  • Intense, direct light accompanied with heat.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon!
  • The white or lighter-coloured markings on a horse's face.
  • :
  • A high-visibility orange colour, typically used in warning signs and hunters' clothing.
  • A bursting out, or active display of any quality; an outburst.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:his blaze of wrath
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:For what is glory but the blaze of fame?
  • A spot made on trees by chipping off a piece of the bark, usually as a surveyor's mark.
  • *Robert Carlton (B. R. Hall, 1798-1863)
  • *:Three blazes' in a perpendicular line on the same tree indicating a legislative road, the single ' blaze a settlement or neighbourhood road.

    • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) blasen, from (etyl) . See above.

    Verb

    (blaz)
  • To be on fire, especially producing a lot of flames and light.
  • To shine like a flame.
  • * (William Wordsworth)
    • And far and wide the icy summit blazed .
  • * , chapter=1
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned,
  • To make a thing shine like a flame.
  • To mark or cut (a route, especially through vegetation), or figuratively, to set a precedent for the taking-on of a challenge.
  • (slang) To smoke marijuana.
  • * Most commonly used in the infinitive, simple present, or simple past:
  • ::
  • * Or less commonly, in the present progressive:
  • ::
    • Related terms
    * ablaze ----