To look at something quickly and briefly, usually without paying full attention.
Possibly from Old French 'glancier' meaning 'to slip aside or graze,' which evolved into the meaning of a quick, fleeting look that grazes across a surface rather than lingering on it.
Your eyes can glance in about 150 milliseconds—that's faster than a blink! This is why 'at a glance' means you can understand something instantly, because our brains are incredibly good at processing visual information in tiny fractions of a second.
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