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In his poem “After the Winter,” Jamaican-born poet and novelist Claude McKay writes of a “summer isle / Where bamboos spire to shafted grove / And wide-mouthed orchids smile,” declaring that “… we will build a cottage there / Beside an open glade …” It’s a serene, joyous vision offered to the speaker’s beloved, and it may shine a bit of light on the etymological connection between glade and the adjective glad, besides. Glade, which has been part of the English language since the early 1500s, was originally used not just to indicate a clearing in the woods but often specifically to refer to one filled with sunlight (note that McKay specifies that his glade is “open,” as glades can be in full or partial shade). It’s this sunniness that has led some etymologists over the years to suggest a connection with glad, which in Middle English also meant “shining.” To further the intrigue, a now-obsolete sense of glade once referred to a clear or bright space in the sky, or to a flash of light or lightning.
Examples of glade in a Sentence
Lydia Price, Travel + Leisure, 8 Jan. 2026
Today, Vail is one of the country’s largest ski areas, with more than 5,300 acres and dozens of lifts that spread snow-chasers across front-side cruisers and glades, and to the kind of back-bowl skiing that people plan whole trips around.
—Bailey Berg, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Dec. 2025
Visitors can ski on open runs, glades, cliffs and chutes, with the longest runs and most vertical drop in the Midwest, a good challenge for experienced skiers.
—Jenna Prestininzi, Freep.com, 3 Dec. 2025
Hiking up Covered Wagon Peak (9,565 feet) for more steep powder stashes and cliff drops that funnel into the undulating glades of Fawn Ridge.
—Drew Zieff, Outside, 21 Nov. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Glade.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glade. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
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glade
noun
