gaze

Etymology

From Middle English gasen; akin to Swedish dialectal gasa and Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usgasjan, “to terrify”).

verb

1. (intransitive) To stare intently or earnestly.
   They gazed at the stars for hours.
   She just sat there very straight, gazing across the moon-washed garden. 1936, F.J. Thwaites, The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards Publishing, published 1940, page 64
   In fact, for Antonioni this gazing is probably the most fundamental of all cognitive activities[.] 1998, Michelangelo Antonioni, Unfinished Business: Screenplays, Scenerios, and Ideas, page xv
2. (transitive, poetic) To stare at.
   I searched for form and land For years and years I roamed I gazed a gazeless stare. 1970, David Bowie, The Man Who Sold the World

noun

1. A fixed look; a look of eagerness, wonder, or admiration; a continued look of attention.
2. (archaic) The object gazed on.
3. (psychoanalysis) In Lacanian psychoanalysis, the relationship of the subject with the desire to look and awareness that one can be viewed.
   She counters the tendency to focus on critical strategies of resisting the male gaze, raising the issue of the female spectator. 2003, Amelia Jones, The feminism and visual culture reader, page 35