▪ I. stare, n.1 Now arch. and dial.
(stɛə(r))
Forms: 1 stær, (stear, star), 5 staar, 6 star, staare, 7 steare, 8 stear, 4– stare.
[OE. stær masc. = MLG. star masc., OHG. star masc., stara fem. (mod.G. star, also written staar, stahr), OIcel. stari (Edda Gl.; Sw., Norw. stare, Da. stær):—OTeut. *staro-z, starō̆n-, cogn. w. L. sturnus of the same meaning.]
A bird of the genus Sturnus: = starling.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss., Sturnus, staer. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. x. 29 Tuoeᵹe staras vel hronsparuas. c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 348 The stare that the counsell can bewrey. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) v. v. (1859) 76 Thenne I bethought me vppon the byrdes as thrusshes, and thrustels, and stares. 1486 Bk. St. Albans f vi b, A Murmuracion of stares. 1530 Palsgr. 275/2 Staare a byrde, estourneav. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. ibid. 912 The star, lesprohon. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xv. (1870) 271 Rasis and Isaac prayseth yonge staares. 1639 Sir R. Gordon Gen. Hist. Earldom Sutherland 3 Steares or stirlings,..and all other kinds of wildfowl and birds. 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode iii. i, He taught a prating Stare to speak my name. a 1721 Prior Poems, Turtle & Sparrow 356 An honest Rook Told it a Snipe, who told a Stear Who told it those, who told it her. 1768 Pennant Brit. Zool. I. 231 The Stare breeds in hollow trees, eaves of houses &c. 1845 New Stat. Acc. Scot. XIV. 189 (Ross & Cromarty) The stare is also a rare bird. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 167 And plovers cry about the meads, And the stares chatter. 1910 Spectator 26 Mar. 506/1 Whitethroat and willow-wren and whistling stare Singing together. |
b. Ornith. With prefixed word, denoting some particular species of the genus Sturnus.
| 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. ii. xix. 196 Bontius his Indian Stare. [Willughby Sturnus Indicus Bontii.] 1787 Latham Suppl. Gen. Syn. Birds I. 137 Common Stare, Sturnus vulgaris. Silk Stare. Length eight inches. 1829 Griffith tr. Cuvier VII. 173 Cape Stare, Sturnus Capensis. |
▪ II. stare, n.2
(stɛə(r))
Also 5–6 Sc. stair.
[f. stare v.]
† 1. Power of seeing. Obs. rare—1.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 583 He þat stykked vche a stare in vche steppe yȝe. |
† 2. A condition of amazement, horror, admiration, etc., indicated by staring. Obs.
| c 1480 Henryson Mor. Fables iv. (Fox's Confess.) xviii, Astonist all still into ane stair he stude. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. ii. 58 Sche..in a stair behaldis hym for joy. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iii. iii. 94 Why stand you In this strange stare? 1904 M. Hewlett Queen's Quair iii. iv, She was in a stare. ‘I am going to the King’. |
3. An act or a habit of staring; a fixed gaze with the eyes wide open.
| 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. iii. 43 He look'd a Lion with a gloomy Stare. 1778 F. Burney Evelina (1791) II. 112 She cast her languishing eyes round the room with a vacant stare. 1796 Plain Sense III. 78 With a broad stare of incomprehension, she was answered. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop ii, After bestowing a stare and a frown on me. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. xiii. 22 [He] gorgonised me from head to foot With a stony British stare. 1911 Galsworthy Patrician ii. ii. 179 Unmoved by the stares of the audience, Barbara sat absorbed in moody thoughts. |
b. generalized use. rare.
| 1785 Cowper Task ii. 430 Avaunt all attitude, and stare, And start theatric, practised at the glass! |
c. to make a stare: to make people stare, excite astonishment. † to be on the stare: to be staring.
| 1804 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Epist. to Ld. Mayor Wks. 1812 V. 203 We have been upon the stare For your Address. 1808 ― One More Peep at R. Acad. ibid. 359 A vulgar World delights in glare Adores whatever makes a stare. |
d. Used for: The object stared at.
| 1753 E. Moor in World No. 43 ¶8 She never hears the word Infidel mentioned from the pulpit, without fancying herself the stare of the whole rabble of believers. |
▪ III. † stare, n.3 Obs.
Also 7 starre.
[ad. It. † stara, staro (also staio); the med.L. forms are stara, starium, starius; perh. shortened from L. sextārius: see sester, sextar, sextary.]
An Italian measure of grain, etc., corresponding to the bushel, but varying according to locality or the kind of substance measured. Also as a weight (see quot. 1622).
| 1540 St. Papers Hen. VIII, VIII. 235 ThEmperour hath given this State licence to draw owt of the realme of Naples abowt 80000 staris of wete. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 26 Italie. They doe also weigh..by starre of 220 lb. weight. 1698 Phil. Trans. XX. 286 Ashes drawn from a Stare and a half of Bran, burnt..in the Furnace with Sulphur. [1811 P. Kelly Univ. Cambist I. 312 Modena... Corn is measured by the Staro or Staja, 4 of which are nearly equivalent to an English Quarter.] |
▪ IV. stare, v.
(stɛə(r))
Pa. tense and pple. stared (stɛəd). Also 6 stayre, staar.
[OE. starian, corresp. to (M)LG., Du. staren, OHG. starên (MHG. starn), ON. stara (Norw. stara), f. OTeut. *staro- (see stareblind a.).
In mod.Ger. the vb. has disappeared, being merged in the cognate vb. starren (OHG. starrên) to be rigid; the sense ‘to look fixedly, stare’ being capable of being regarded as a particular application of the general meaning. A vb. of identical meaning, and prob. cognate, though the phonological relation is obscure, exists in several Teut. langs.: On. stira (Da. stirre, Sw. stirra), mod.G. stieren.]
1. a. intr. To gaze fixedly and with eyes wide open. Said also of the eyes. Const. in mod. use chiefly at (also in indirect passive), in (a person's face), and occas. after, into, through; formerly (now arch.) on, upon. Also with advs. about, around, or advb. phr. denoting direction.
In modern use the verb ordinarily implies rudeness, or is otherwise disparaging; hence many of the older examples would now be differently expressed.
| Beowulf 1781 Þæt ic on þone hafelan heorodreoriᵹne..eaᵹum stariᵹe. c 1000 ælfric Lives Saints xv. 199 Forðan þe se earn..mæᵹ swyðost starian on þære sunnan leoman. a 1300 Cursor M. 13557 Quen men him sagh þat kneu him are, Fast þai can on him to stare. c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 176 Homme doile guenyle, M. with ee starith. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 149 Abowte me con I stote & stare To fynde a forþe. 13.. Ibid. B. 389 Summe styȝe to a stud & stared to þe heuen. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xii. 61, I stode stille in a stodie and stared a-bowte. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 1142 This Pandarus gan on here for to stare. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 263 He in his sege lened In stody still as a stane, & starid in hire face. c 1400 Destr. Troy 8627 He stode þus in stid, starit hym vpon. 1412 Lydg. Troy Bk. 1337 Þei wern so rude to staren and to gase To gape & loke, as it wer on a mase. c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 37 Summe staren broode & moun not se. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 472/2 Staryn, wythe brode eyne, patentibus oculis respicere. 1557 Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 241 For had he come in golden garmentes bright, Or so as men mought haue starde on the sight. 1570 Levins Manip. 252/45 To stayre, aspicere, contemplare. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. xiii. §4 Standing upon his tip-toes, and staring as though he would have a mote pulled out of his eie. 1589 Puttenham Engl. Poesie iii. xxiv. (Arb.) 300 King Henry th'eight..could not abide to haue any man stare in his face. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iii, Her bright eyes gan ope, And starde upon him. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. vi. 34 He stares around, with stupid Eyes. Ibid., Georg. iv. 370 With hagger'd Eyes they stare, Lean are their Looks, and shagged is their Hair. 1703 Cibber She wou'd etc. v. 68 How shall I be star'd at when I give an Account of this to my Father, or your Friends in Sevil? 1806 H. Siddons Maid, Wife, & Widow I. 95, I sat for hours together staring on the fire. 1817 Keats Sonn. xi, Like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He star'd at the Pacific. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. ix, There was..scarce a maiden on whom he did not stare. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 73 They..stared at him with fixed statue-like gaze. 1835 Marryat Jacob Faithful xii, She'd a roguish eye, and liked to be stared at, as most pretty women do, because it flatters their vanities. 1848 Dickens Dombey iv, By having stared for three or four days successively through every optical instrument in his shop. 1859 Tennyson Geraint & Enid 267 Two wild men supporters of a shield, Painted, who stare at open space. 1859 FitzGerald Omar xxiv, Alike for those who for To-day prepare, And those that after a To-morrow stare. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi xvi. 326 They [the hippopotami] stare with peculiar stolid looks. 1878 M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. i, A few hurried off to the Market-place, to stare at the Cathedral Church of Saint Jacques. 1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths I. 21 And be kind enough not to stand here and stare; everybody is listening. 1907 J. A. Hodges Elem. Photogr. (ed. 6) 119 The sitter should never be allowed to stare into the lens. |
b. colloquial phrases.
| 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. ix. 41 Panurge star'd at him like a dead Pig. 1714 Gay What d'ye call it? i. i, His loving mother left him to my care Fine child, as like his dad as he could stare. 1796 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xiii, Oh! yes; and as like him as she can stare. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas x. x. (Rtldg.) 373 He stared like a stuck pig at my equipment! |
¶ c. In poetry used (on account of rhyme or alliteration) for: To look. Obs. Cf. stare n.2 1.
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 7 Whanne I mai upon hire stare,..Myn herte is full of such gladnesse. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5551 Wo so staris on þis story, or stodis þerin, Take hede on þe harmys & the hard lures. |
d. transf. and fig. Of things: To be obtrusively conspicuous. Also in obvious transferred uses with comparison of lights or windows to eyes.
| 1657 N. Billingsley Brachy-Martyrol. iii. 12 So said, thus rack'd, into a fire he's thrown, And now his wasting bowels stared on The Tyrants face. 1825 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Barbara S―, And then came staring upon her the figures of her little stockingless and shoeless sisters. 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. iii. 84 Their subtleties of character stare out like the bones of a starved beast. 1895 P. Hemingway Out of Egypt ii. 175 One evening, as I stood watching a vessel in the harbour, that stared townwards with a hundred round unblinking eyes. 1909 Bridges Paraphr. æn. vi. Poems (1913) 457 Right i' the front stareth the columnar gate adamantine. |
2. quasi-trans. with complement. a. With adv., adj., or phrase expressing the result of staring at a person or thing; esp. in to stare (a person) out of countenance (see countenance n. 6 b).
| 1672 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Rehearsal iv. i. (Arb.) 103 Who e'er to gulp one drop of this dares think I'l stare away his very pow'r to drink. 1719 D'Urfey Pills III. 319 The..Stone..stares Deucalions..Boys, into..Pebbles. 1833 Lytton Godolphin xxiii, She did not stare young men out of countenance. 1844 Mrs. Browning Poems, Dead Pan x, Thou art staring the stars pale. 1857 [see countenance n. 6 b]. |
b. to stare (a person) in the face [after the older phrase in look v. 1 e]: to stare at (his) face; also fig. of a thing, to be glaringly obvious to, to force itself on the notice of; to be apparently obvious but nevertheless overlooked.
| 1690 Locke Hum. Und. i. iii. §13 Whether it be possible, for People..to offend against a Law..that stares them in the Face, whilst they are breaking it? 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables cclxxx. 245 But to come now to the Ungrateful Point, the Bare Innuendo of it would stare so many People in the Face, that [etc.]. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 9 They staring one in the Face, and in the mean time..steal a Handkerchief. 1727 Bolingbroke Occas. Writer ii. 44 This terrible Object stares our speculative Enquirer in the Face, and disturbs his Head. 1769 Junius Lett. xix. 82 The contradiction was unexpectedly urged and stared him in the face. 1790 Buchan Dom. Med. 569 Few people will submit to the extirpation till death stares them in the face. 1817 Ld. Ellenborough in Maule & Selwyn's Rep. VI. 316 When he knew himself insolvent, and when ruin and bankruptcy were staring him in the face. 1846 Greener Sci. Gunnery 98 The mock sales..that stare us in the face at every turning. 1855 Abp. Thomson Laws of Thought §46 A man stares his friend in the face without recognising him. 1912 Throne 7 Aug. 205/1 To minimise the severity of the defeat which Ministers see staring them in the face. 1966 J. B. Priestley Salt is Leaving iii. 43 She found the Mahler album... ‘It must have been staring you in the face,’ she added. 1972 ‘G. North’ Sgt. Cluff rings True xvi. 120 ‘It was staring me in the face,’ the Sergeant said, and he should have seen it sooner. 1979 A. Boyle Climate of Treason viii. 236 The over-caution of Cowgill in fumbling for conclusions that stared him in the face demanded some patience. |
c. to stare (a person) up and down: to survey with a stare from head to foot.
| 1889 May Crommelin & J. M. Brown Violet Vyvian III. i. 6 She always stares me up and down at the meets. 1891 H. S. Merriman Prisoners & Captives II. 78 They are staring me up and down like a wild animal. |
d. to stare (someone) down, out: to stare at someone without being first to blink or lower one's gaze, usu. as an expression of resistance or hostility; to outstare. Also fig.
| 1856 Dickens Dorrit (1857) i. xxiv. 215 ‘She looked at the Princess, and the Princess looked at her.’ ‘Like trying to stare one another out,’ said Maggy. 1946 T. H. White Mistress Masham's Repose xiv. 115 Miss Brown searched out her pupil's eyes and fixed them with her own. She had a..trick of staring Maria down. 1965 ‘T. Hinde’ Games of Chance i. iv. 110 That made me shout at Kenny a lot, and mimic him, and stare him out. 1972 R. Thomas Porkchoppers (1974) xii. 107 He spent nearly a minute staring at Goff. Goff had stared back, thinking that he was damned if he'd let any pal of Cloke's stare him down. 1979 Guardian 12 Jan. 8/5 Some measure of fiscal ‘mid-term adjustment’..is called for. So is a serious attempt to stare down the local government workers. 1979 G. Seymour Red Fox iv. 56 The maid in the starched apron stared him out. |
3. Used with implication of a mental state. † a. To open the eyes wide in madness or fury; to glare. Often in alliterative phrases, e.g. scowl and stare, stamp and stare (see stamp v. 2 c), swear and stare, denoting the indications of uncontrolled rage. Obs.
| c 1250 Death 234 in O.E. Misc., He [sc. the Devil] ȝeoneþ mid his muþe and stareþ mid his eȝe. c 1250 Owl & Night. 77 Þu starest so þu wille abyten. a 1300 Havelok 508 Starinde als he were wod. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2225 Als wode lyons thai [the devils] sal than fare, And raumpe on hym, and skoul and stare. c 1360 Song of Yesterday 53 in E.E.P. (1862) 134 Nis..non so styf to stunt ne stare... Þat he naþ warnynges to be ware. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 63 He gan to fare Into the field and loke and stare, As he which feigneth to be wod. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 189 This makyth men..to stroute and to stare and stryue aȝeyn vertu. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xxix. ii. 75 Þe Ieuh bi-gon to stare and swere And seide þer com non such child þere. 1530 Palsgr. 733/2, I stare, as a mans eyes stare for anger. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 131 b, Lorde how the Flemines bragged..that Calice should be wonne..swearyng and staryng, that thei would haue it, within thre daies at the moste. 1579 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 8 If he can sweare and stare they say hee hath a stout courage. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 33 His eies..stared sterne on all that him beheld. Ibid. iii. vii. 39 Her firie eyes with furious sparkes did stare. 1615 J. Taylor (Water P.) Taylor's Rev. Wks. (1630) ii. 145/2 Some laught, some swore, some star'd and stamp'd and curst. 1667 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. Friendly Advt. (1669) c 3 b, They..will swear and stare, crack and boast, That they have done all things according to Art. 1837 A. Tennent Force of Imag. 64 His eye-balls stared with vicious scowl. |
b. To open the eyes wide in astonishment; hence, to be amazed.
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles ii. 8 Some stode astonyed and stared for drede. c 1400 Rowland & O. 551 Drondale felle so sadde and sare Þat þe Saraȝene bi-gane to stare. a 1400 Pistill of Susan 285 (MS. Phillipps) Tho criede þat ferly [read frely] fode: ‘Why spillist þou innocent blode?’ And all þei starid [v.rr. stoteyd, stynted, were a-stonyed] and stode. 1716 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. I. iii. 12, I was yesterday at the French Church, and stared very much at their manner of service. 1782 Cowper Gilpin 194 Said John, It is my wedding day And all the world would stare If wife should dine at Edmonton And I should dine at Ware! 1789 Pitt in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) I. 98 You will stare a good deal at the circumstance which makes me write this letter. 1815 Scott Guy M. lviii, Mac-Morlan will stare when he sees the bill. 1820 Byron Juan iii. lxxxi, Even good men like to make the public stare. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 194 Mordaunt wanted merely to enjoy the excitement of conflict, and to make men stare. 1850 A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 429 To produce such illusions as make the vulgar stare. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xv. III. 605 The other councillors stared, but remained silent. 1902 V. Jacob Sheep-Stealers viii, Bumpett stared blankly. For once in his life he was quite taken aback. |
† 4. To shine. Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 116 As stremande sternez..Staren in welkyn in wynter nyȝt. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 553 Þei ben y-sewed wiþ whiȝt silk..Y-stongen wiþ stitches þat stareþ as siluer. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 3796 As ai stremand sternes stared all þaire wedis. c 1400 Destr. Troy 7349 The sternes full stithly starond o lofte. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 472/2 Staryn, or schynyn, and glyderyn, niteo, rutilo. |
5. Of hair, a horse's coat, feathers, fibres of any kind: To stand on end. [So mod.G. starren.] Now chiefly technical. Also, † to spread out.
| 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §56 Loke well, that the heare stare not. 1560 T. Phaer æneid ix. (1562) Dd iij, Thou sawest..how his helmet crest did streaming stare? 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Coma, Horror comas erexit, feare made his heare to stare. 1590 Cockaine Treat. Hunting D j, His coate also will stare and frise so vppon him, as you may easely knowe him thereby. 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 127 The here of the seale stareth at the South windes. 1614 Life & Death Geninges 55 His face glowed, and as he thought his hayre stared. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. iii. 195 There was such an hideous noyse..that their haire stared for feare. 1676 Durfey Madam Fickle iii. iii, See how his Perriwig stares with his wild passion. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 319 Their skins would turn scurfy and starky, and their wool stare and grow thin. 1748 Richardson Clarissa VI. 157 Four old turkey⁓worked chairs, bursten-bottomed, the stuffing staring out. 1753 Bartlet Gentl. Farriery xxxvi. 278 So that the hair stares up, and is what some term pen-feathered. 1788 New Lond. Mag. 624 When the whole is dry, dress the feathers round the outline that may chance to stare a little. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) x. §69 Its few remaining hairs [said of an old toothbrush] staring off horizontally on all sides. 1808 Scott Marm. ii. xxxii, The locks that wont her brow to shade, Star'd up erectly from her head. 1860 All Year Round No. 49. 531 One drink of hard water would put the favourite horse out of condition, make his coat ‘stare’. 1888 Lancet 14 Jan. 96/1 The affected cows were restless and irritable; their coats ‘stared.’ 1891 Labour Commission Gloss. s.v. Nap, [Filaments of cotton yarn] are very sensitive to electrical conditions, hence the importance of means to make them lie as smooth as possible, otherwise they polarise in all directions, that is ‘stare’. |
6. Comb. † stare-about, one who stares about; stare-cat U.S. (see quot.); stare-you-out, the activity of staring someone out (see sense 2 d above), esp. as a chldren's game; also attrib.
| 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair iii. v, They stick not the Stare-abouts purses to take. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 448 Stare-cat, a woman or girl who amuses herself with gazing at her neighbors. 1962 E. O'Brien Lonely Girl ix. 107 In the village..people stopped to look..with savage stare-you-out eyes. 1972 J. Quartermain Rock of Diamonds xxvi. 140 She held her expression... I grinned and played ‘Stare-you-out’. But I blinked first. 1977 D. Morris Manwatching 75 (caption) Such is the impact of the close-quarters gaze that the schoolboy game of stare-you-out is extremely difficult to maintain over a long period of time. |
▪ V. stare
obs. f. star n.1, var. star n.2