Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Performed with a natural, offhand ease.
  • adjective Given to or characterized by fluency of speech or writing that often suggests insincerity, superficiality, or a lack of concern.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To run smoothly; move freely, as the tongue.
  • To make smooth; cause to run smoothly, as the tongue; make glib.
  • Smooth; slippery: as, ice is glib.
  • Running smoothly or sleekly; plausibly voluble: as, a glib tongue.
  • noun A bushy head of hair, formerly common among the Irish. See the extracts.
  • noun A man wearing such a bush of hair.
  • To castrate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To make glib.
  • adjective obsolete Smooth; slippery.
  • adjective Speaking or spoken smoothly and with flippant rapidity; fluent; voluble
  • noun obsolete A thick lock of hair, hanging over the eyes.
  • transitive verb obsolete To castrate; to geld; to emasculate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb obsolete To castrate; to geld; to emasculate.
  • adjective Having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding; superficial; shallow.
  • adjective Smooth or slippery.
  • adjective Artfully persuasive in nature.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having only superficial plausibility
  • adjective artfully persuasive in speech
  • adjective marked by lack of intellectual depth

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Possibly of Low German origin; see ghel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Compare Old English and dialect lib to castrate, geld, Danish dialect live, Low German and Old Dutch lubben.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably modification of Low German glibberig (slippery).

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Examples

  • Been-there-and-back soul, an ability to separate the glib from the gothic.

    The Nightingales of Troy: Summary and book reviews of The Nightingales of Troy by Alice Fulton. 2008

  • COURIC: Yes, I was going to say that ` s a weird use of the word glib, but whatever.

    CNN Transcript Jun 27, 2005 2005

  • Just the suggestion of it and the underlying tension in his voice had caused the tongue he had termed glib to stick to the roof of her mouth.

    Heaven's Price Brown, Sandra, 1948- 1994

  • He calls Keira Knightley 'brilliant,' Robert Downey Jr. 'glib'-and turned down' The Girl

    Macleans.ca 2010

  • He calls Keira Knightley 'brilliant,' Robert Downey Jr. 'glib'-and turned down' The Girl

    Macleans.ca 2010

  • He calls Keira Knightley 'brilliant,' Robert Downey Jr. 'glib'-and turned down' The Girl

    Macleans.ca 2010

  • During news coverage in 2007 of the story, Grant was referred to as glib, but Miller said that's not how he appears today.

    lsj.com - News 2009

  • Of course, we all remember when Tom Cruise went off on Lauer, calling him "glib" as they went at it over antidepressants.

    CNN Transcript Feb 23, 2009 2009

  • Second, Tom pointed out that Matt Lauer actually was very "glib" (shallow) and didn't know what he was talking about.

    Dr. Peter Breggin: Thanks Tom Cruise 2008

  • During a discussion of the drug Ritalin a suddenly arrogant Cruise said Lauer was "glib" and that he "should be a little bit more responsible in knowing what [Ritalin] is."

    "Tom Cruise Show" - Summer's Best TV 2008

Comments

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  • I need a quotation to remember the meaning of this word. Help!

    October 21, 2008

  • Well, you made me go look it up and I discover Dutch origins…

    1. ready and fluent, often thoughtlessly or insincerely so: glib speakers; a glib tongue.

    2. easy, as action or manner. glibberig'>backformation from obsolete glibbery slippery, from Dutch glibberig

    Would "glibbery slippery" be sufficient to help you remember?

    October 21, 2008

  • How about this:

    "What is the question now placed before society with the glib assurance which to me is most astonishing? That question is this: Is man an ape or an angel? I, my lord, I am on the side of the angels. I repudiate with indignation and abhorrence those new fangled theories." -- Benjamin Disraeli, 1864

    October 21, 2008

  • Or you can use a techie (GLib) reference, but interpret in the usual sense:

    "Why o' why glib? Don't you know that glib abort()s when memory allocation fails?"

    October 21, 2008

  • Thank you! Now I need a word to remember your quotations. Maybe glib?

    October 21, 2008