Why this word is great
GLISTER — [Noun, Verb] A brilliant, sharp flash or gleam; to sparkle with a hard, intense light. From Middle English glisteren, akin to Middle Low German and Middle Dutch glisteren, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰley- (to shine). Unlike glisten, which implies a soft, oily sheen on a damp leaf, or glitter, which suggests a scattered, decorative, and often tawdry sparkle, glister is a stab of pure, mineral-bright radiance. It is the sudden, silvered lance of light on a drawn sword, the cold wink of mica in granite, and the last, fierce gleam from a dying ember—a brief and perfect defiance of the encroaching dark.