Gland, gland, n. a secreting structure, which in various ways alters the material brought to it by the blood, extracting and excreting waste products as in the kidneys, or manufacturing valuable by-products, such as the glycogen and bile of the liver: (bot.) a small cellular spot which secretes oil or aroma.—adjs. Glandif′erous, bearing acorns or nuts; Gland′iform, resembling a gland: nut-shaped; Gland′ūlar, Gland′ūlous, containing, consisting of, or pertaining to glands.—n. Gland′ūle, a small gland.—adj. Glandūlif′erous. [F. glande—L. glans, glandis, an acorn.]
Glanders, gland′ėrz, n. a malignant, contagious, and fatal disease of the horse or ass, showing itself esp. on the mucous membrane of the nose, upon the lungs, and on the lymphatic system.—adj. Gland′ered, affected with glanders.
Glare, glār, n. a clear, dazzling light: overpowering lustre: a piercing look.—v.i. to shine with a clear, dazzling light: to be ostentatiously splendid: to look with piercing eyes.—adj. Glar′ing, bright and dazzling: barefaced: notorious.—adv. Glar′ingly.—n. Glar′ingness. [Perh. from A.S. glær, a pellucid substance, amber.]
Glareous. See Glair.
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.]
Glassite, glas′īt, n. one of a religious sect founded by John Glas (1695-1773), a minister of the Church of Scotland, who was deposed in 1730 for maintaining that a congregation with its eldership is, in its discipline, subject to no jurisdiction but that of Jesus Christ. The sect is now better known as the Sandemanians, from the name of Glas's son-in-law.
Glaswegian, glas-wēj′i-an, n. and adj. a native or citizen of Glasgow.
Glauberite, glaw′ber-īt, n. a grayish-white mineral, a compound of the sulphates of sodium and calcium, found chiefly in rock-salt. [From the German Johann Rudolf Glauber, 1604-68.]
Glauber-salt. See Salt.
Glaucoma, glawk-ō′ma, n. an insidious disease of the eye, marked by increased tension within the eyeball, growing dimness of vision, and an excavation of the papilla of the optic nerve—also Glaucō′sis.—adj. Glaucom′atous. [See Glaucous.]