stargaze

English

Etymology

From star +‎ gaze.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈstɑɹɡeɪz/

Verb

stargaze (third-person singular simple present stargazes, present participle stargazing, simple past and past participle stargazed)

1. To look at the stars at night.

   It was a very clear night so I paused to stargaze until I got cold and went in.

   • 1903, Burt L. Standish [pseudonym; Gilbert Patten], Frank Merriwell at Yale‎:

     "That's right," declared Browning's companion. "I was out stargazing last night. Looked at the Long-Handled Dipper a long time, and it gave me an awful thirst. I've had it with me all day. Yes, mine's ale."

2. (figuratively) To gaze engrossed with emotion or contemplatively.
   • 1912, Mary Antin, The Promised Land‎:

     Before books came into my life, I was given to stargazing and daydreaming. When books were given me, I fell upon them as a glutton pounces on his meat after a period of enforced starvation.

Translations

to look at the stars at night

Chinese: Mandarin: 觀星 / 观星 (zh) (guānxīng) Italian: guardare le stelle Russian: смотре́ть на звёзды (smotrétʹ na zvjózdy) Vietnamese: xem sao Yoruba: wòràwọ̀

Further reading

• “stargaze”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.