Outstared

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have maintained eye contact with greater duration or intensity than another person
2. Engaging in a gaze that lasts longer or is more forceful than the one you face
3. To hold someone's stare and exceed their visual challenge by looking more steadily or defiantly

Etymology: "Outstared" is a plain English formation: the prefix "out-" meaning "more than, beyond," attached to the verb "stare." The prefix works the same way in older words such as "outrun," "outlive," and "outwit," where the subject surpasses someone else in the named action. Applied to staring, it describes winning a contest of visual endurance. "Stare" itself has an older and more neutral history than its modern sense suggests. It came into English from Old English "starian," meaning to gaze fixedly, and carried no sense of rudeness; the connotation of impolite, prolonged looking developed later. The "out-" compound follows the same pattern as "outshine" or "outdo," so the word needed no special coinage to make sense. I have not been able to confirm a first recorded use of "outstared" or its date in English, so I cannot say when it entered the language.

Synonyms: gazed, stared down, looked intently, fixed on, confronted

Antonyms: averted, looked away, glanced, shunned, ignored