staringlyadv.
/ˈstɛːrɪŋli/, U.S. /ˈstɛrɪŋli/ 1. With a stare; with eyes wide open; in such a manner as to stare.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > [adverb] > staring or gazing
agazec1350
with all the eyes in one's head1483
gazingly1564
at a or the gaze1578
staringly1580
on (also upon) the stare1709
in a gazea1715
upon the gaze1817
1580 C. Hollyband Treasurie French Tong Errailler les yeux,..to open ones eyes wide, staringly.
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Sbarléffo,..a mouthinge, or looking staringlie.
1602 J. Manningham Diary Oct. (1976) 89 That long swaggerer..staringly demaunding what he ment..said the gent[leman], ‘I tooke you for a May pole.’
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 545 Like as when we would open the eye more staringly the muscles of the forehead doe much helpe vs.
1704 R. Steele Lying Lover iii. i. 32 She comes in publick with her Eyes staringly open.
1799 tr. A. von Kotzebue Writing Desk iii. ii. 67 He jumps up, starts back, looks staringly aside.
1883 Harper's Mag. Oct. 805/1 The natives..heard my questions staringly.
1948 B. Wilkinson Proceed at Will vii. 51 At the slightest noise I would go taut, come staringly awake.
2005 Daily Star (Nexis) 29 Apr. 26 Tom, the most staringly intense frontman since Johnny Rotten.
2. spec. With reference to perturbation or mental disturbance: wildly, frantically. Now somewhat rare.Frequently modifying an adjective denoting a mental state. In later use frequently preceded by stark; cf. staring adv. 1.
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the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [adverb] > frenzied or raging
woodlyc1000
wildlyc1449
staringly1598
frantic1609
rabidly?1611
frenetically1837
frenziedly1856
berserkly1963
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Rabbuffare,..to looke staringlie as a mad man.
1610 E. Gardiner Triall of Tabacco f. 53v In some great Tabacconists, you shall see them staringly wilde, their face troubled, their voyce frightfull and distempered.
1668 H. More Divine Dialogues iii. xix. 423 So staringly mad that the eye of Reason seems to have quite started out of their head.
1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 43 Not by talking staringly, and casting a Mist before the Peoples Eyes.
1833 Age 14 July 221/1 This worthy is mad, outrageously stark-staringly mad.
1994 Sunday Times 9 Oct. (Style section) 7/1 Nothing will more convince you that the whole of western civilization is utterly howlingly stark-staringly foamingly doolally than the [fashion] collections will.
2014 H. Hancock in C. Stross www.antipope.org 19 Jan. (comment on blog, accessed 29 Apr. 2015) I'd be going staringly mad right now without a carefully subdivided task list.
3. So evidently or obviously as to ‘stare one in the face’; glaringly; palpably.
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society > communication > manifestation > manifestness > [adverb] > in a strikingly manifest manner
louda1400
loudly1589
grossly1593
signally1598
conspicuously1626
remarkedly1656
staringlya1670
glaringly1709
illustriously1725
noticeably1845
saliently1847
staring1850
blatantly1878
bulgingly1896
a1670 J. Hacket Scrinia Reserata (1693) i. 129 From hence the Embraces of Truth may see, how staringly false, and daringly impudent that Report is.
1695 J. Sage Fund. Charter Presbytery ii. 213 Some Articles were sent unto the Lord Regent..most of them looking the Regents Sacrilegious inclinations even Staringly in the Face.
1717 J. Collier Some Considerations Dr. Kennet's 2nd & 3rd Lett. 9 The Marks of Forgery with respect to Wickliffs Character, and many other Circumstances, are so staringly apparent, that..'tis next to impossible to miss them.
a1764 R. Lloyd Puff in Poet. Wks. (1774) I. 172 Titles oft give nothing less That what they staringly profess.
1818 W. Cobbett Let. 10 Dec. in Year's Resid. U.S.A. (1819) iii. 387 There is in this statement something..so ridiculously and staringly untrue.
1818 W. Cobbett Gram. Eng. Lang. xviii. §221 These are staringly absurd.
1879 R. L. Stevenson Lay Morals (1911) 7 The universe..is plain, patent and staringly comprehensible.
1908 G. W. Cable Kincaid's Battery 128 The smooth, empty ground where both to Anna's and to Flora's silent notice all the up-river food-stuffs..were so staringly absent.
1959 E. J. Goodspeed Matthew iii. 36 Surely these staringly obvious considerations must awaken us to the one man among the Twelve who was both man of letters..and man of figures.
2008 Independent (Nexis) 1 Aug. 46 The answer to ‘what has happened to Britain's women?’ seems staringly obvious.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1580