glass [OE] The substance glass goes back to ancient Mesopotamia or Phoenicia (modern Lebanon and Syria). Glasses ‘spectacles’ dates from the mid 18th century, although before that people would use a single glass or ‘an eye glass’. ‘Men seldom make passes / At girls who wear glasses’ is by the American wit Dorothy Parker (1893–1967). The proverb people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, dates from the 17th century. People started complaining of the existence of a glass ceiling, meaning an unofficial barrier to advancement at work, especially for a woman, in the early 1980s. Glaze [LME], to equip with glass, comes from glass, as does the glaze [LME] on pottery.