gaze

Noun · Verb

WordNet 3.0

Noun (1)

a long fixed look“he fixed his paternal gaze on me”Synonyms: regard

Verb (1)

look at with fixed eyes“The students stared at the teacher with amazement”Synonyms: stare

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Gaze \Gaze\ (g[=a]z), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Gazed (g[=a]zd); p. pr. & vb. n. Gazing.] [OE. gasen, akin to dial. Sw. gasa, cf. Goth. us-gaisjan to terrify, us-geisnan to be terrified. Cf. Aghast, Ghastly, Ghost, Hesitate.] To fix the eyes in a steady and earnest look; to look with eagerness or curiosity, as in admiration, astonishment, or with studious attention. [1913 Webster]

Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? --Acts i. 11.

Syn: To gape; stare; look.

Usage: To Gaze, Gape, Stare. To gaze is to look with fixed and prolonged attention, awakened by excited interest or elevated emotion; to gape is to look fixedly, with open mouth and feelings of ignorant wonder; to stare is to look with the fixedness of insolence or of idiocy. The lover of nature gazes with delight on the beauties of the landscape; the rustic gapes with wonder at the strange sights of a large city; the idiot stares on those around with a vacant look. [1913 Webster]

Gaze \Gaze\, v. t. To view with attention; to gaze on . [R.] [1913 Webster]

And gazed a while the ample sky. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

Gaze \Gaze\, n.

1.A fixed look; a look of eagerness, wonder, or admiration; a continued look of attention. [1913 Webster]

With secret gaze Or open admiration him behold.— Milton.[1913 Webster]

2.The object gazed on. [1913 Webster]

Made of my enemies the scorn and gaze.— Milton.[1913 Webster]

At gaze (a) (Her.) With the face turned directly to the front; -- said of the figures of the stag, hart, buck, or hind, when borne, in this position, upon an escutcheon. (b) In a position expressing sudden fear or surprise; -- a term used in stag hunting to describe the manner of a stag when he first hears the hounds and gazes round in apprehension of some hidden danger; hence, standing agape; idly or stupidly gazing. [1913 Webster]

I that rather held it better men should perish one by one, Than that earth should stand at gaze like Joshua's moon in Ajalon!— Tennyson.[1913 Webster]