stargazev.
/ˈstɑːɡeɪz/, U.S. /ˈstɑrˌɡeɪz/ 1. intransitive. To gaze intently or admiringly at something or someone.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (intransitive)] > stare or gaze
stareOE
gawc1175
darea1225
porec1300
muse1340
glowc1374
gogglec1380
gazec1386
glore?a1400
glopc1400
govec1480
glower?a1513
gowk1513
daze1523
amuse1532
glew1587
to feed one's eyes1590
to seek, buy, or sow gape-seed1598
to shoot one's eyes1602
glazea1616
stargaze1639
gaum1691
to stare like a stuck pig1702
ygaze1737
gawk1785
to feed one's sight1813
gloze1853
glow1856
1639 J. Shirley Maides Revenge i. sig. B4v How now Antonio,..Strucke dead with Ladies eyes? I could star-gaze For ever thus.
1640 J. Shirley Arcadia i. i. B 4 Her eyes Are fixt upon't, and my poore soule could heere Star-gaze for ever.
1778 Hist. Eliza Warwick II. 101 He could not remove his eyes from my face. Lady Norfolk, observing it, asked him whether he intended to sup, or to stargaze all night?
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. iv. 296 ‘Very odd birds, kestrels,’ said East, looking waggishly at his victim, who was still star-gazing.
1899 Titusville (Pa.) Morning Herald 15 Feb. (advt.) The dry goods merchant sat alone, ‘Star-gazing’ at his stock.
1948 Pottstown (Pa.) Mercury 9 Apr. 6/6 Marlon Brando..celebrated his 24th birthday stargazing into the eyes of a lass named Blossom Plum.
2013 Santa Fe New Mexican (Nexis) 14 July For a guy who just fired one of the best rounds of his life, Fernando Horta didn't do too much stargazing at his scorecard.
2. intransitive. literal. To gaze at or study the stars. Also: to attempt to predict the future, as by astrology.
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the world > the universe > cosmology > astronomy > [verb (intransitive)] > star-gaze
stargaze1660
1660 W. Lower tr. P. Quinault Amourous Fantasme 96 Let me Star gaze a while, and calculate Those Heavens, to know our fortune, or our fate.
1692 R. L'Estrange Fables clxxxix. 159 The Mischief is, that we are..star-gazing after Futurities; when in truth, our Bus'ness lies just under our Noses.
1723 E. Ward Wandering Spy 30 He..turn'd t'wards Heav'n his Snout, Which awkward Posture made him seem To be Stargazing.
1772 G. A. Stevens Songs Comic & Satyrical lxxix. 151 Into Ditch Thales fell, with his Telescope geer, At midnight wou'd Stargazing roam.
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 179 The sky prospect from her apartment being rather limited, she used..to come star-gazing to mine.
1886 Standard 10 Sept. 2/6 As I and three friends who were with me were stargazing, we saw a beautiful meteor.
1913 H. B. Cotterill Anc. Greece iv. 203 The story of his falling down a well..while stargazing is perhaps a playful invention.
1995 N.Y. Times 13 Dec. b17 Nelson, who usually detests projections of any sort, was nevertheless stargazing at a 19-5 mark entering a Dec. 22 game at Orlando.
2014 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 15 Nov. 11 Visitors can stargaze through Harper's large main telescope in the observatory dome.
a. transitive (reflexive). With into: to achieve the specified condition or thing by the practice of astrology or astronomy. Obsolete. rare.
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1678 T. Porter French Conjurer iii. 15 He has talkt and stargazed himself into..favour with my Master.
1871 J. Ruskin Fors Clavigera I. i Their present eagerness for instruction in painting and astronomy proceeds from an impression in their minds that, somehow, they may paint or star-gaze themselves into clothes and victuals.
b. transitive. With indirect question as object: to try to discern by studying the stars. Obsolete. rare.
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1691 A. Gavin Frauds Romish Monks 226 The Abbot himself went out after Supper, to Star-gaze what Weather they were like to have the next day.
4. intransitive. To observe celebrities in person.
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1921 Judge (N.Y.) 22 Oct. 25/3 ‘We have several famous movie stars dining with us this evening,’ whispered the waiter... ‘I came in here to eat, not to star-gaze.’
1981 Financial Times 6 June 13/2 Don't go for the food but go to star-gaze if that's your scene—always full of pop stars, writers, actors.
1991 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 9 Nov. e1 The opportunity to stargaze, or at least to see where and how stars actually live, is a primary reason visitors flock here.
2006 M. Hogan Susanna sees Stars (2007) xxi. 100 This is one of the best places to stargaze in New York... True celebs never check in at the front desk.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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