The Etymology of Glaze
Glaze is glass turned into a verb. Old English 'glæs,' from Proto-Germanic '*glasam,' produced Middle English 'glasen' or 'glazen,' meaning to fit something with glass — chiefly windows. The trade name 'glazier' preserves this older sense. As craftspeople began applying glassy coatings to ceramics in the late medieval period, the verb extended to that work, and from there to any smooth, glossy layer: lacquer on a painting, sugar on a pastry, ice on a road. The intransitive sense of eyes 'glazing over' (becoming glassy with disinterest or shock) is a 19th-century extension, but it draws on the same image. Across all uses, the word keeps its original idea: a thin, transparent, reflective skin.