SHIMMER

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shimmer mean? 

• SHIMMER (noun)
  The noun SHIMMER has 1 sense:

1. a weak and tremulous light

  Familiarity information: SHIMMER used as a noun is very rare.

• SHIMMER (verb)
  The verb SHIMMER has 2 senses:

1. shine with a weak or fitful light

2. give off a shimmering reflection, as of silk

  Familiarity information: SHIMMER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHIMMER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A weak and tremulous light

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

play; shimmer

Context example:

the play of light on the water

Hypernyms ("shimmer" is a kind of...):

alteration; change; modification (an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another)

Derivation:

shimmer (give off a shimmering reflection, as of silk)

shimmer (shine with a weak or fitful light)

shimmery (glistening tremulously)

• SHIMMER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they shimmer    ... he / she / it shimmers   
Past simple: shimmered   
Past participle: shimmered   
-ing form: shimmering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shine with a weak or fitful light

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Context example:

Beech leaves shimmered in the moonlight

Hypernyms (to "shimmer" is one way to...):

beam; shine (emit light; be bright, as of the sun or a light)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence examples:

Lights shimmer on the horizon
The horizon is shimmering with lights

Derivation:

shimmer (a weak and tremulous light)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give off a shimmering reflection, as of silk

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "shimmer" is one way to...):

gleam; glint; glisten; glitter; shine (be shiny, as if wet)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

shimmer (a weak and tremulous light)

 Context examples 

At the opening of one of these something white was shimmering, but I was unable to make out what it was.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A message you receive on December 30 should have you excited—Mercury, your guardian planet, will receive shimmering vibrations from surprise-a-minute Uranus.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

In an evil moment the shopman held up the lovely, shimmering folds, and said, "A bargain, I assure, you, ma'am."

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A strange figure he seemed to his three squires, perched on his huge horse, with his eyes upturned and the wintry sun shimmering upon his bald head.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Like the shimmering air on a hot summer’s day, the tenuous atmosphere in this massive galaxy should warp the signal of the fast radio burst.

(Enigmatic radio burst illuminates a galaxy’s tranquil ​halo, ESO)

Each time he murmured it, her face shimmered before him, suffusing the foul wall with a golden radiance.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the wintry sun.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I shut the closet to conceal the strange, wraith-like apparel it contained; which, at this evening hour—nine o'clock—gave out certainly a most ghostly shimmer through the shadow of my apartment.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The diffuse red glow permeating this image comes from the emission of hydrogen gas, while the shimmering blue light is caused by reflection and scattering off small dust particles.

(Stellar Nursery Blooms into View, ESO)

There was none of that white sleek skin and shimmering play of sinew which made Wilson a beautiful picture, but in its stead there was a rugged grandeur of knotted and tangled muscle, as though the roots of some old tree were writhing from breast to shoulder, and from shoulder to elbow.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)