See Also: stare(dictionary)
stare(medicine)
stare(1)(dictionary)
stare(2)(dictionary)
STARE DECISIS(law)
stare 2, noun(dictionary)
stare 1, verb(dictionary)
stare decisis(encyclopedia)
postbasic stare(medicine)
stare decisis(dictionary)

Rubicon (sh) and stare (iou)


Rubicon (sh)




Small stream that separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy in the era of the Roman republic.

The movement of Julius Caesar's forces over the Rubicon into Italy in 49 BC violated the law that forbade a General to lead an army out of the province to which he was assigned. Caesar's act thus amounted to a declaration of war against the Roman Senate and resulted in the three-year civil war that left Caesar ruler of the Roman world. "Crossing the Rubicon" became a popular phrase describing a step that irrevocably commits a person to a given course of action.


stare (iou)



stare verb.
[Old English starian = Middle Low German staren, Old High German staren, Old Norse stara, from Germanic base meaning 'be rigid'.]
verb intrans. Look fixedly with the eyes wide open, esp. as the result of curiosity, surprise, horror, bewilderment, admiration, etc.; open the eyes wide in astonishment etc.; (of the eyes) be wide open and fixed. Freq. foll. by at. OE.
J. Wain They stared at him stonily. O. Manning He stared down the length of the train. Day Lewis He stared aghast at the message. L. Hellman The man sitting..staring out of the window. fig.: I. Banks The..window..staring down-river like a huge handless clockface.
b. fig. Of a thing: be obtrusively conspicuous. Cf. STARING 3. M19.
C. Clarke Their subtleties of character stare out like the bones of a starved beast.
verb intrans. Shine. Only in ME.
verb intrans. Of hair, an animal's coat, fibres, etc.: stand on end. E16.
verb trans.
a. Reduce to a specified condition by a prolonged stare. L17.
stare down, stare out stare at (a person) without being first to blink or lower one's gaze, usu. as an expression of resistance or hostility; outstare.
R. Adams Sheldra..stared him into silence.
b. Gaze fixedly at in a specified manner. Chiefly in stare in the face, gaze fixedly at the face of; fig. (of a thing) be glaringly or apparently obvious to, be the evident or imminent fate of. L17.
E. Law Ruin and bankruptcy were staring him in the face. H. S. Merriman They are staring me up and down like a wild animal. Aldous Huxley The fact had been staring everyone in the face.
c. Convey (hostility, disapproval, etc.) with a stare. M20.
M. Dickens Mollie was shouting,..her eyes staring hatred.
Comb.: stare-cat slang a person given to staring inquisitively.
starer noun (a) a person who stares; (b) in pl. (colloq.), eyeglasses with a long handle: M17.