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"gleam" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often shine (5 letters).
Definitions
to shine with faint or brief light
Word origin
From Middle English glem, gleam, gleme (“shaft of light; part of a comet’s tail; reflected sparkle; dawn; daylight; radiance (physical or spiritual); something fleeting”), from Old English glǣm (“gleam”), from Proto-Germanic *glaimiz (“brightness; splendour”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”).
Used in a sentence
“Is not yon gleame, the ſhuddering morne that flakes, / VVith ſiluer tinctur, the eaſt vierge of heauen?”
“VVhat a gloom hangs all around! the dying lamp feebly emits a yellovv gleam, no ſound is heard but of the chiming clock, or the diſtant vvatch-dog.”
“But a faint and partial gleam of sunshine broke through the aperture, and made yet more cheerless the dreary aspect and gloomy appurtenances of the cell.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Faint shine”5 letters
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