[f. STARE v. + -ING2.] That stares, in senses of the verb.
1. That looks fixedly with wide open eyes.
a. 1547. Surrey, in Tottels Misc. (Arb.), 17. He cast on me a staring loke, with colour pale and ded.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 927. Then nightly sings the staring Owle, Tu-whit to-who.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 37. Their staring eyes sparckling with feruent fire And vgly shapes did nigh the man dismay.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 1149. The staring ruffian shall it keepe in quiet.
1682. N. O., Boileaus Lutrin, ii. 17. With hollow Cheeks, and staring Eyes she viewd him.
1747. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), I. xvi. 102. The man is a very confident, he is a very bold, staring man!
1809. Med. Jrnl., XXI. 221. The countenance is wild, the eyes red and staring.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xxxiv. How came the fellow here?Speak, you staring fool, he added.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, IV. i. I have sent his vulgar wife and great staring daughter a card for next Wednesday!
1859. Tennyson, Marr. Geraint, 356. Turn, turn thy wheel above the staring crowd.
1861. Dickens, Lett. (1880), II. 152. They were an intent and staring audience.
1899. Allbutts Syst. Med., VI. 120. Powell describes a slightly staring, suffused, and anxious expression of countenance as most common.
transf. 1646. Crashaw, Sospetto dHerode, vii. Such his fell glances as the fatall Light Of staring Comets, that looke Kingdomes dead.
† b. Frantic, wild. Obs.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., III. xiv. 371. In wantowne and nyse disgisingis of araies (and so forth of many othere [staryng added by a later hand] gouernancis, semyng summe wijlde woode).
1607. Walkington, Optic Glass, iii. 21. Who knowes not that goggle eyes [denotate] a starke-staring foole?
1839. Bailey, Festus (ed. 3), 309. The staring madness when we wake and find That what we have loved is not that We meant to love.
c. Proverbs. (App. often used with no definite meaning; perh. orig. ellipt. for the combs. in 5.)
1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 67. The difference betwene staryng and starke blynde The wise man at all tymes to folow can fynde.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 154. Descende into your owne consciences, consider with your selues the great difference between staring and starke blynde, witte and wisedome, loue and lust.
1629. Ford, Lovers Mel., II. ii. Mel. Am I starke mad? Troll. No, no, you are but a little staringtheres difference betweene staring and starke mad.
1738. Swift, Pol. Conversat., 200. Theres Difference between staring and stark mad.
1787. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Ode upon Ode, Wks. 1812, I. 440. Theres odds twixt staring and stark mad.
† 2. Shining; bright-colored. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3037. Shynyng full shene as þe shire sternys, Or any staring stone.
a. 140050. Wars Alex., 2880. He Strad vp him selfe on a stede, in starand wedis. Ibid., 3615. He standis vp in his stereps in starand maylis. Ibid., 5396. He saȝe a dym cloude Full of starand sternes.
1425. Ord. Whittingtons Alms-house, in Entick, London (1766), IV. 354. That the overcloathing be dark and brown of colour, and not staring ne blaising.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 473/2. Starynge, or schynynge, as gaye thyngys, rutilans, rutilus, nitidus.
c. 1495. Epitaffe, etc. in Skeltons Wks. (1843), II. 391. His starynge standarde nowe set is on a wall.
a. 1500. Medwall, Nature (Brandl), I. 749. A staryng colour of scarlet red.
3. Of hair, feathers, etc.: Standing up, bristling.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 182. Vncomde staryng heades.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, V. xvi. 569. It layeth downe the staring heares of the eyebrowes.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon., iii. (1623), F 1. Take away all those staring strawes, twigs, and other offensive jagges that are fast in the Hiues.
1674. trans. Scheffers Lapland, 136. Mountain Mice which Wormius describes with short tails and staring hair.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 813. The Water-Snake With staring Scales lyes poysond in his Bed.
1730. Burdon, Pocket Farrier (1735), 63. If your Horse is brought to you with a staring Coat and hollow Flank.
1860. E. Mayhew, Horse Doctor, 22. The eye is closed; the skin cold, and the coat staring.
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 66. Grooms object to give hard water to their horses, on the ground that it makes the coat staring and rough.
4. That obtrudes itself on the view or attention; glaringly conspicuous.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VI. clix. (1811), 149. At those dayes in Fraunce was vsyd of prestes, and men of the Church, precious and shewynge vesture, and goldyn and ryche starynge gyrdellys, with rynges, and other ornamentis of golde.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 252. She perceiued his yies to bee offended with hir ouer wanton and staryng araie.
1709. Berkeley, Ess. Vision, § 125. Made up of manifest staring contradictions.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 258. Friday not making quite so staring a Spectre-like Figure as I did.
1773. Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., II. And at last to blurt out the broad staring question of, Madam, will you marry me?
1849. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, iv. A modest building with great staring windows.
1850. Blackie, Æschylus, II. 8. Not to mention the staring absurdity of the idea.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, ii. 15. The staring modern chapels.
1880. Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Palace Gard., ii. 20. A staring new terrace built on the ground which the old house covered.
1894. Bridges, Shorter Poems, V. xv. (1912), 316.
Each grain of writhen dust, that drapes | |
That sickly, staring shore | |
Its old chaotic change of shapes | |
Remembers evermore. |
1902. Wister, Virginian, xxxv. 468. They [rustlers] were a staring menace to Wyoming.
† b. Of a story: Sensational. Obs.
1753. Scots Mag., Oct., 492/1. I could tell a staring story, and humbug with skill.
1781. Mme. DArblay, Diary, Aug. He told us a thousand strange staring stories.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, France & Italy, II. 144. One must not judge from staring stories told one.
5. quasi-adv. as in staring blind, mad (cf. 1 c), plain, sober. Usually stark staring: see STARK adv. 2 b.
[1546, 1579: see 1 c.]
1589. Whip for Ape, A 4.
I am a rimer of the Irish race, | |
And haue alreadie rimde thee staring mad. |
a. 1861. T. Woolner, My Beautiful Lady, Storm, iv. Familiar things, that staring plain had been, Fade into mists away.
1886. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., iii. At one look the rum went out of him, and left him staring sober.