stare
pronunciation
How to pronounce stare in British English:
UK [steə(r)]
How to pronounce stare in American English:
US [ster]
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- Noun:
- a fixed look with eyes open wide
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- Verb:
- look at with fixed eyes
- fixate one's eyes
Word Origin
- stare
- stare: [OE] The etymological notion underlying stare is of ‘fixity’ or ‘rigidity’. It goes back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *star-, *ster- ‘be rigid’, which also produced English starch [15], stark [OE], starve (originally ‘be stiff’, hence ‘die’), stern ‘severe’, and stork (etymologically the ‘stiff’-legged bird). Thus to stare is to ‘look fixedly’. (Greek stereós ‘solid’, source of English stereo, came from the same Indo-European base as produced *ster-.)=> starch, stark, starve, stereo, stern, stork
- stare (v.)
- Old English starian "to stare, gaze, look fixedly at," from Proto-Germanic *staren "be rigid" (cognates: Old Norse stara, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch staren, Old High German staren, German starren "to stare at;" German starren "to stiffen," starr "stiff;" Old Norse storr "proud;" Old High German storren "to stand out, project;" Gothic andstaurran "to be obstinate"), from PIE root *ster- (1) "strong, firm, stiff, rigid" (see stereo- and compare torpor). Not originally implying rudeness. To stare (someone) down is from 1848. Related: Stared; staring.
- stare (n.2)
- "starling," from Old English (see starling).
- stare (n.1)
- late 14c., "power of sight," from stare (v.). From c. 1700 as "a fixed gaze."
Example
- 1. In most chinese cities I can stare the sun down .
- 2. The mourners around me give me sideways glances or just stare .
- 3. To many who stare up at the heavens , the stars may seem simply uncountable .
- 4. Infants tend to stare longer at events that surprise them compared with what they expect .
- 5. I would sit at my desk , and the giant 22-inch computer screen would stare back at me .