Glass

Glass, glas, n. a combination of silica with some alkali or alkaline earth, such as lime, &c., used for window panes, mirrors, lenses, &c.: anything made of glass, esp. a drinking-vessel, a mirror, &c.: the quantity of liquid a glass holds: any fused substance like glass, with a vitreous fracture: (pl.) spectacles.—adj. made of glass.—v.t. to case in glass.—ns. Glass′-blow′er, one who blows and fashions glass; Glass′-blow′ing, the process of making glass, by taking a mass of glass reduced by heat to a viscid state, and inflating it; Glass′-coach, a coach for hire having glazed windows; Glass′-crab, the larval form of rock lobsters, &c., but formerly regarded as adults, and made into a genus or even family; Glass′-cut′ter; Glass′-cut′ting, the act or process of cutting, shaping, and ornamenting the surface of glass.—adj. Glass′-faced (Shak.), reflecting the sentiments of another, as in a mirror.—n. Glass′ful, the contents of a glass.—adj. Glass′-gaz′ing (Shak.), addicted to viewing one's self in a mirror.—ns. Glass′-grind′ing, the ornamenting of glass by rubbing with sand, emery, &c.; Glass′-house, a glass manufactory: a house made of glass.—adv. Glass′ily.—n. Glass′iness.—adj. Glass′-like.—ns. Glass′-paint′ing, the art of producing pictures on glass by means of staining it chemically; Glass′-pā′per, paper coated with finely pounded glass, and used like sand-paper; Glass′-soap, an oxide of manganese and other substances used by glass-blowers to remove colouring from glass; Glass′ware, articles made of glass; Glass′-work, articles made of glass; Glass′wort, a plant so called from its yielding soda, used in making glass.—adjs. Glass′y, made of or like glass; Glass′y-head′ed (Tenn.), having a bald, shining head.—ns. Cut′-glass, flint-glass shaped or ornamented by cutting or grinding on a wheel; Ground′-glass, any glass that has been depolished by a sand-blast, grinding, or etching with acids, so as to destroy its transparency; Plate′-glass, glass cast in large thick plates.—Live in a glass house=to be open to attack or retort.—Musical glasses (see Harmonica).—Water, or Soluble, glass, the soluble silicate of soda or of potash formed when silica is fused with an excess of alkali, used for hardening artificial stone, as a cement, and for rendering calico, &c., uninflammable. [A.S. glæs; Dut., Ger., and Sw. glas; cog. with glow, gleam, glance, glare.]