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Glite Dictionary
to glass over

to glass over

1 6.8
Eyes or face become dull and show no expression
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡlæs ˈoʊvər/
translation icon : perder la expresión
  • When he heard the bad news, his eyes started to glass over, betraying his shock and sadness.
  • her eyes glass over

Examples

  • Jacob screams, and his eyes start to glass over.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • In another moment, he was down on the ground, his eyes already glassing over, staring up at his killer.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • She'd be lucid sometimes, but would have phases where she looked glassed over.

    Blog text (10)

  • As she listened to the sad story, her eyes began to glass over, reflecting her growing empathy.

  • During the emotional movie, I noticed several people in the audience with eyes glassing over.

Synonyms

to glaze
vsto glass over
25 4.6

To become smooth and shiny in look, often because someone is tired or not paying attention

is a dull blank expression rather than a smooth shiny change
to glaze over
vsto glass over
11 5.3

Eyes look shiny and unfocused when a person is tired or bored

is a blank expression without focus rather than a brightly focused look
to glass
vsto glass over
1 7.2

To become smooth and shiny, like a clear window

is a dull blank expression rather than a clear shiny surface
to film over
vsto glass over
1 7.3

To become covered with a thin layer that makes eyes or glass look cloudy

is an expressionless dull look rather than a physical cloudy covering

How Dull

to glass over
1 6.8
to glaze over
11 5.3
to unfocus
1 7.4

Surface Forms

glass over infinitive
glassed over past
glassed over past participle
glassing over present participle
glasses over third person singular

Morphology

glass + over

The verb 'glass' (to take on a glass-like, glazed appearance) combined with the particle 'over' (indicating completeness) composes directly to mean 'become glazed/dull all over.' This is a transparent, compositional pattern similar to 'glaze over,' so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Glass over comes from the image of someone's eyes turning like glass, looking shiny, still and empty. So when a person's face or eyes glass over, it means they become 'dull' or 'blank' and show little feeling.