▪ I. staring, vbl. n.
(ˈstɛərɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
The action of the verb stare; gazing fixedly with eyes wide open, standing up (of hair), etc.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 472/2 Starynge, brode lokynge, patentacio oculorum. c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. 13 They songe and daunsed full merely, With swerynge, and starynge heuen hye. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 50 b, We found the body of the sayde Hun..w{supt} his eyen & mouth fayre closed, withoute any staryng, gapyng or frownyng. 1549 Udall etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Thess. ii. 1–8 We came not vnto you, with bragging and staring. 1563 Sackville Induct. Mirr. Mag. xxxiv, His cap borne vp with staring of his heare. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 168 [One that is given] to drinkings and swearings, and starings. 1682 Norris Hierocles Pref. 32 A resolution of all our faculties into sweetnesses, affections and starings upon the Divine beauty. 1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Roup, Roup, the name of a filthy disease in poultry..known by the staring, or turning back of the feathers. 1817 Byron Beppo lxxxi, Could staring win a woman, this had won her. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 689 In cattle these [symptoms] are slight dulness, shivering,..‘staring of the coat’, and stiffness in movement. |
▪ II. staring, ppl. a.
(ˈstɛərɪŋ)
[f. stare v. + -ing2.]
That stares, in senses of the verb.
1. That looks fixedly with wide open eyes.
| a 1547 Surrey in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 17 He cast on me a staring loke, with colour pale and ded. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 927 Then nightly sings the staring Owle, Tu-whit to⁓who. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 37 Their staring eyes sparckling with feruent fire And vgly shapes did nigh the man dismay. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 1149 The staring ruffian shall it keepe in quiet. 1682 N. O. Boileau's Lutrin ii. 17 With hollow Cheeks, and staring Eyes she view'd him. 1747 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. xvi. 102 The man is a very confident, he is a very bold, staring man! 1809 Med. Jrnl. XXI. 221 The countenance is wild, the eyes red and staring. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxiv, ‘How came the fellow here?—Speak, you staring fool’, he added. 1845 Disraeli Sybil iv. i, I have sent his vulgar wife and great staring daughter a card for next Wednesday! 1859 Tennyson Marr. Geraint 356 Turn, turn thy wheel above the staring crowd. 1861 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 152 They were an intent and staring audience. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 120 Powell describes a slightly staring, suffused, and anxious expression of countenance as most common. |
| transf. 1646 Crashaw Sospetto d'Herode vii, Such his fell glances as the fatall Light Of staring Comets, that looke Kingdomes dead. |
† b. Frantic, wild. Obs.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. xiv. 371 In wantowne and nyse disgisingis of araies (and so forth of many othere [staryng added by a later hand] gouernancis, semyng summe wijlde woode). 1607 T. Walkington Optic Glass iii. 21 Who knowes not that..goggle eyes [denotate] a starke-staring foole? 1839 Bailey Festus (ed. 3) 309 The staring madness when we wake and find That what we have loved..is not that We meant to love. |
c. Proverbs. (App. often used with no definite meaning; perh. orig. ellipt. for the combs. in 5.)
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 67 The difference betwene staryng and starke blynde The wise man at all tymes to folow can fynde. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 154 Descende into your owne consciences, consider with your selues the great difference between staring and starke blynde, witte and wisedome, loue and lust. 1629 Ford Lover's Mel. ii. ii. Mel. Am I starke mad? Troll. No, no, you are but a little staring—there's difference betweene staring and starke mad. 1738 Swift Pol. Conversat. 200 There's Difference between staring and stark mad. 1787 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Ode upon Ode Wks. 1812 I. 440 There's odds 'twixt staring and stark mad. |
† 2. Shining; bright-coloured. Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 3037 Shynyng full shene as þe shire sternys, Or any staring stone. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 2880 He..Strad vp him selfe on a stede, in starand wedis. Ibid. 3615 He standis vp in his stereps in starand maylis. Ibid. 5396 He saȝe a dym cloude Full of starand sternes. 1425 Ord. Whittington's Alms-house in Entick London (1766) IV. 354 That the overcloathing..be dark and brown of colour, and not staring ne blaising. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 472/2 Starynge, or schynynge, as gaye thyngys, rutilans, rutilus, nitidus. c 1495 Epitaffe etc. in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 391 His starynge standarde..nowe set is on a wall. c 1500 H. Medwall Nature (Brandl) i. 749 A staryng colour of scarlet red. |
3. Of hair, feathers, etc.: Standing up, bristling.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 182 Vncomde staryng heades. 1578 Lyte Dodoens v. xvi. 569 It layeth downe the staring heares of the eyebrowes. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. iii. (1623) F 1, Take away all those staring strawes, twigs, and other offensive jagges that are fast in the Hiues. 1674 Scheffer's Lapland 136 Mountain Mice..which Wormius describes with short tails and staring hair. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 813 The Water-Snake..With staring Scales lyes poyson'd in his Bed. 1730 Burdon Pocket Farrier (1735) 63 If your Horse is brought to you with a staring Coat and hollow Flank. 1860 E. Mayhew Horse Doctor 7 The eye is closed; the skin cold, and the coat staring. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 66 Grooms object to give hard water to their horses, on the ground that it makes the coat staring and rough. |
4. That obtrudes itself on the view or attention; glaringly conspicuous.
| a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vi. clix. (1811) 149 At those dayes in Fraunce was vsyd of prestes, and men of the Church, precious and shewynge vesture, and goldyn and ryche starynge gyrdellys, with rynges, and other ornamentis of golde. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 252 She..perceiued his yies to bee offended with hir ouer wanton and staryng araie. 1709 Berkeley Ess. Vision §125 Made up of manifest staring contradictions. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 258 Friday..not making quite so staring a Spectre-like Figure as I did. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii, And at last to blurt out the broad staring question of, Madam, will you marry me? 1849 Dickens Barn. Rudge iv, A modest building..with great staring windows. 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 8 Not to mention the staring absurdity of the idea. 1859 Jephson Brittany ii. 15 The staring modern chapels. 1880 Mrs. J. H. Riddell Palace Gard. ii. 20 A staring new terrace built on the ground which the old house covered. 1894 Bridges Shorter Poems v. xv. (1912) 316 That sickly, staring shore. 1902 O. Wister Virginian xxxv, The rustlers..were a staring menace to Wyoming. |
† b. Of a story: ‘Sensational’. Obs.
| 1753 Scots Mag. Oct. 492/1, I..could..tell a staring story, and humbug with..skill. 1781 F. Burney Diary Aug., He told us a thousand strange staring stories. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi France & Italy II. 144 One must not judge from staring stories told one. |
5. quasi-adv. as in staring blind, staring mad (cf. 1 c), staring plain, staring sober. Usually stark staring: see stark adv. 2 b.
| [1546, 1579: see 1 c.] 1589 Whip for Ape A 4, I am a rimer of the Irish race, And haue alreadie rimde thee staring mad. a 1861 T. Woolner My Beautiful Lady, Storm iv, Familiar things, that staring plain had been, Fade into mists away. 1886 Stevenson Treas. Isl. iii, At one look the rum went out of him, and left him staring sober. |