Glance

Question

As she walked up to the house, she glanced toward the mountains in the distance.

My dictionary says that glance is to take a brief or hurried look.

In the sentence I don't intend it to be a hurried look but just a short look, so my question is if a "glance" is more a brief look at something than a hurried look would you say?

If I wrote "she casted a glance toward" or "she threw a glance toward" would it then appear more hurried than just "glanced toward" or not necessarily? And between "casted" and "threw" does one imply more or less than the other?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

anonymouscasted

Before we get into the main questions of your post, let's get this sorted out.

There is no word 'casted'. 'cast' is one of those invariable verbs. We use 'cast' for the present, the past, and the past participle.

She casts a glance. (now)
She cast a glance. (in the past)

anonymousAs she walked up to the house, she glanced toward the mountains in the distance.My dictionary says that glance is to take a brief or hurried look.

That means that when you see 'glance' used you may take it as a brief look or as a hurried look, depending on the context. So you can use it for either case. The context you create around it will tell the reader how to think of it.

In my opinion 'hurried' was added in the definition of 'glance' as a near synonym of 'brief'. I don't think both words were used in the definition with the intent to suggest that there are two different meanings of 'glance'.

anonymousIn the sentence I don't intend it to be a hurried look but just a short look, so my question is if a "glance" is more a brief look at something than a hurried look would you say?

I would say that you are analyzing a trivial difference with too fine a filter. None of your readers will think of "hurried" unless that's very clearly implied by the context. Almost everyone thinks of a 'glance' as a brief look.

anonymousIf I wrote "she cast a glance toward" or "she threw a glance toward" would it then appear more hurried than just "glanced toward" or not necessarily?
And between "cast" and "threw" does one imply more or less than the other?

'threw' suggests a more forceful movement, so that one might suggest greater haste. 'to cast a glance' and 'to glance' sound about equally unhurried to my ear. If you really wanted to suggest 'hurried' (which you don't, it seems), you would say 'hurried' or 'quick', thus: She [cast / threw] a [hurried / quick] glance toward ....

CJ

Glance

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