Dictionary

shimmery en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈʃɪməɹi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (General-American) audio
• /ˈʃɪməɹi/ (General-American)
• /ˈʃɪmɹi/ (General-American)

Etymology

From shimmer + -y (suffix meaning ‘inclined to’ forming adjectives).

Meanings

1. (qualifier:Apparently) shimmering, or shining with a faint, or intermittent or trembling gleam or light.
   • She was the most beautiful of all the mermaids, her hair shinier, her tail shimmerier, her voice more captivating than any other fish-girl’s. 2015, Elana K[uczynski] Arnold, chapter 4, in Infandous, Minneapolis, Minn.: Carolrhoda Lab, →ISBN, page 36:
   • There will always be something worth living for while there are shimmery afternoons. 1883 June, Ralph Iron [pseudonym; Olive Schreiner], “Waldo Goes Out to Sit in the Sunshine”, in The Story of an African Farm, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: H. M. Caldwell Company, →OCLC, part II, page 387:
   • He had not known him at first; at least not for certain in the shimmery moonlight; the man he had seen looked younger and of lighter build, he said, and he had not taken him to be his old friend and mate; […] 1875, E[lizabeth] Lynn Linton, “Truth and Seeming”, in Patricia Kemball. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., →OCLC, page 465:
   • […] Aunty Ada would base her prostitute judgment on Nia’s lipstick, a shimmery orange, and the eye shadow—similar to the shade of the lipstick—that clung to her heavy lids. 2009, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Arrangers of Marriage”, in The Thing Around Your Neck (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 180:
   • The tall girl is the shimmeriest, lips painted the color of the inside of an oyster shell, eyelids swirled in mother-of-pearl. 2007, Sunshine O’Donnell, “How much money do you make?”, in Open Me: A Novel, San Francisco, Calif.: MacAdam Cage, →ISBN, page 27:
   • And then, far off, around a curve of silver track, comes the trolley, balanced on four small steel-blue wheels, and it is painted the color of tangerines. Epaulets of shimmery brass cover it and pipings of gold; and its chrome bell bings if the ancient motorman taps it with a wrinkled shoe. 1966, Ray Bradbury, “The Trolley”, in S Is for Space, London: Granada Publishing, published 1983, →ISBN, page 221:
   • The length of the gorge on both sides was hung as it were with black shimmery velvet curtains, and Mowgli sank as he looked, for those were the clotted millions of the sleeping bees. 1895 November, Rudyard Kipling, “Red Dog”, in The Second Jungle Book, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 187:
2. (figuratively) (Apparently) shaking or trembling.
   • "How is Mrs. Marvyn?" said Mrs. Scudder. / "Kinder thin and shimmery; but she's about,—habin' her eyes eberywar 'n' lookin' into eberyting.["] 1859, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The Quilting”, in The Minister’s Wooing, New York, N.Y.: Derby and Jackson, […], →OCLC, page 446:

Forms

Deriveds

shimmeriness

Synonyms

profulgent · shining · lambent · ashimmer · shiny · luminant · luminous · luminiferous · refulgent · illuminating · beamy · aglow · lighted · brilliant · lit · lucific · effulgent · beamful · radiant · beamsome · sheeny · luciferous · resplendent · lustrous · alight · orient · lucent · glowing

Translations (1)

fr chatoyant ((apparently) shimmering, or shining with a faint, or intermittent or trembling gleam or light)