look daggers
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English
Etymology
An allusion to a look being so fierce as to be able to injure the person looked at like a dagger.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌlʊk ˈdæɡəz/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌlʊk ˈdæɡɚz/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: look dag‧gers
Verb
look daggers (third-person singular simple present looks daggers, present participle looking daggers, simple past and past participle looked daggers)
- (intransitive) Often followed by at: to stare in a disapproving, severe, or threatening manner, especially without speaking.
- Synonyms: glare daggers, shoot daggers, stare daggers
- 1835, [Washington Irving], “Abbotsford”, in Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey (The Crayon Miscellany; no. 2), Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, pages 40–41:
- Before him set the grim baron, with a face worthy of the father of such a daughter, and looking daggers and rat's bane.
- 1912 October, Jack London, “The Meat”, in Smoke Bellew, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co, →OCLC, page 43:
- Both employers looked daggers at Kit, for the insult rankled; […]
- 1986, Stephen Coonts, chapter 9, in Flight of the Intruder, Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, →ISBN, page 116:
- Even before a waitress came up, two hostesses approached and looked daggers at Suzy and Teresa, both of whom glared back.
Translations
to stare in a disapproving, severe, or threatening manner
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See also
References
- ^ “to speak or look daggers” under “dagger, n.1”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “look daggers at, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
