gaze

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gasen, also gazen and gace,^[2][3] probably of Scandinavian origin,^{[4][5][6][3][7]} and the MED takes it as borrowed from Old Norse.^[2] The evidence is Swedish gasa (“to gape, stare”) in Swedish dialects,^[8][6][5] and Norwegian dialect gasa in the same sense.^[9][10][11] Merriam-Webster also compares Norwegian dialect gase (“fool”) and perhaps Old Norse gassi (“reckless person”), and so relates the word to goose.^[3] The OED calls it of unknown origin, possibly from the same root as the obsolete verb gaw with an -s- suffix,^[8] a link the Shorter Oxford, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Hoad also suggest;^[12][13][14] Etymonline and Ayto connect that verb with Old Norse gá (“heed”) and with gawk.^[9][7] Partridge compares gape.^[11] The noun is formed from the verb.^[8][12] Gazebo is probably a humorous mock-Latin formation from it, as if "I shall gaze".^[7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To stare or look about curiously: about 1386, in Chaucer's Clerk's Tale, where the people gaze up and down, glad of the novelty of a new lady.^[8][2] Barnhart and the MED date the poem about 1395.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that the earliest sense was "gawp, stare", only gradually overtaken by the politer "look intently".^[7] The OED likewise describes the early use as looking vacantly or curiously about, or staring in astonishment, and the modern one as looking fixedly or intently.^[8] In Middle English it could also mean figuratively to fix one's attention on something or think of it with longing.^[2] The construction with at, on or upon is recorded from 1553,^[8] and a transitive use, to stare at, from 1591 in poetry.^[8] The noun first meant something gazed at, a spectacle (1542–1797),^[8][5] a sense the Shorter Oxford says survived in dialect,^[12] and the English Dialect Dictionary records it in Fife, comparing Macbeth's "the show and gaze o' the time".^[15] The sense of a long, steady look is recorded from 1566.^[8][5] The phrase at gaze (1578) was first used of a deer standing still in surprise,^[8][16] and is now chiefly a term of heraldry.^[8] A gazehound (1560s) was a dog that followed its prey by sight rather than scent.^[9] Since 1973 the noun has also been used in theory for a way of regarding people, which the OED compares with Lacan's French regard.^[8] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as an intent regard, a look of eagerness or wonder.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – to stare, look about curiously, in Chaucer.^[8]
• 1542 – noun, something gazed at (obsolete after 1797).^[8][5]
• 1553 – gaze at, on, upon.^[8]
• 1560s – gazehound, a dog that hunts by sight.^[9]
• 1566 – noun, a steady or intent look.^[8][5]
• 1578 – at gaze, of a deer.^[8]
• 1591 – transitive, to stare at (poetic).^[8]
• 1973 – a way of regarding people, in theory.^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To look steadily and for a long time, often in wonder or admiration: They gazed at the night sky for an hour.
2. (poetic or archaic) To look fixedly at something.

Noun

1. A steady, intent look: She held his gaze without blinking.
2. (heraldry) at gaze: of a deer or other beast of the chase, shown with its face turned to the front.
3. In critical and film theory, a way of regarding people.
4. (archaic) Something gazed at; a spectacle.

Word family

• gazer
• gazeless
• gazingly
• outgaze
• stargaze
• gazehound

Related words

• gawk
• gazebo
• gape
• goose

Usage notes

Dictionary.com distinguishes three near-synonyms: to gaze is to look steadily and intently, especially at something that arouses admiration or interest; to stare is to look with wide-open eyes, from surprise, alarm or rudeness; and to gape suggests open-mouthed and rather ignorant wonder.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
17. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.