gaze

See also: Gaze, gazé, gāze, gāzē, gáže, and -gaze

English

Etymology

Akin to Swedish dialectal gasa and Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usgasjan, “to terrify”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡeɪz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪz
• Homophone: gays

Verb

gaze (third-person singular simple present gazes, present participle gazing, simple past and past participle gazed)

1. (intransitive) To stare intently or earnestly.
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Chapter 13

     Gerty MacDowell who was seated near her companions, lost in thought, gazing far away into the distance was, in very truth, as fair a specimen of winsome Irish girlhood as one could wish to see.

   They gazed at the stars for hours.

   In fact, for Antonioni this gazing is probably the most fundamental of all cognitive activities ... (from Thinking in the Absence of Image)

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Acts 1:11:

     Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

2. (transitive, poetic) To stare at.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 7”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     Strait toward Heav'n my wondring Eyes I turnd, / And gaz'd a while the ample Skie

Synonyms

• gape, stare, look

Troponyms

• (to stare intently): ogle

Derived terms

• at gaze
• begaze
• foregaze
• gazer

Translations

to stare intently or earnestly

• Bulgarian: вторачвам се (vtoračvam se)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 望 (mong⁶), 望住 (mong⁶ zyu⁶)

• Dutch: staren (nl), turen (nl)
• Finnish: tuijottaa (fi)
• French: fixer (fr)
• Galician: ollar (gl), deñar (gl), catar, guipar, alurpiar
• Georgian: დაჟინებით ცქერა (dažinebit ckera), მზერა (mzera)
• German: anstarren (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀθρέω (athréō), θεάομαι (theáomai), ἀτενίζω (atenízō)

• Hebrew: שָׁזַף עַיִן‎ m (shazáf 'ayín), הִבִּיט‎ (he) (hibbít)
• Hungarian: bámul (hu)

• Indonesian: tataplah
• Italian: fissare (it)
• Latin: conspicio, tueor
• Maori: mōtoi, mātai, taumata, kekeho
• Occitan: agachar (oc), agaitar, espiar (oc)
• Portuguese: contemplar (pt)
• Russian: разгля́дывать (ru) (razgljádyvatʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: dian-amhairc
• Spanish: observar (es)
• Zazaki: pawen (diq)

to stare at

• Bulgarian: взирам се (vziram se)
• Esperanto: rigardi (eo)
• Finnish: tuijottaa jotakin
• Georgian: მიშტერება (mišṭereba), ქცერა (kcera), ცქერა (ckera)
• Italian: guardare (it), puntare gli occhi, volgere lo sguardo
• Maori: mōtoi

• Portuguese: contemplar (pt)
• Russian: вглядываться в (vgljadyvatʹsja v)
• Scottish Gaelic: dian-amhairc
• Spanish: mirar fijamente
• Zazaki: weynen (diq)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} osservare (it), ^{(please verify)} fissare (it), ^{(please verify)} contemplare (it)

Noun

gaze (plural gazes)

1. A fixed look; a look of eagerness, wonder, or admiration; a continued look of attention.
   • 1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314:

     Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.

2. (archaic) The object gazed on.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398, page 11:

     Made of my Enemies the ſcorn and gaze;

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Edmund Spenser to this entry?)

3. (psychoanalysis) In Lacanian psychoanalysis, the relationship of the subject with the desire to look and awareness that one can be viewed.
   • 2003, Amelia Jones, The feminism and visual culture reader, p.35:

     She counters the tendency to focus on critical strategies of resisting the male gaze, raising the issue of the female spectator.

Derived terms

• foregaze
• male gaze
• white gaze

Translations

fixed look

• Bulgarian: втренчен поглед m (vtrenčen pogled)
• Esperanto: rigardo
• Finnish: tuijotus (fi)
• Georgian: მზერა (mzera), დაჟინებული ცქერა (dažinebuli ckera)
• Hungarian: tekintet (hu)
• Italian: occhiata (it) f

• Latin: obtutus m
• Persian: نگاه‎ (fa) (negâh)
• Russian: при́стальный взгля́д (prístalʹnyj vzgljád)
• Scottish Gaelic: dian-amharc m
• Zazaki: bıpaw

object gazed on

• Zazaki: weyniyaye

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɑz/
• Homophones: gaz, gazes, gazent

Etymology 1

From Arabic قَزّ‎ (qazz, “silk”) (pronounced in the dialects with /ɡ/), less likely from غَزَّة‎ (ḡazza, “Gaza”), a city associated with silk production.

Noun

gaze f (plural gazes)

1. gauze

Etymology 2

Verb

gaze

1. first-person singular present indicative of gazer
2. third-person singular present indicative of gazer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of gazer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of gazer
5. second-person singular imperative of gazer

Further reading

• “gaze” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Brazil) /ˈɡa.zi/, [ˈɡa.zi]

• IPA^(key): (Portugal) /ˈɡa.zɨ/, [ˈɡa.zɨ]

• Hyphenation: ga‧ze
• Rhymes: -azi, -azɨ

Noun

gaze f (plural gazes)

1. gauze (thin fabric with open weave)
2. gauze (cotton fabric used as surgical dressing)

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɡaze]

Noun

gaze n

1. indefinite plural of gaz