Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Gaze

Gaze (gāz) , intransitive verb

[Old English gasen, akin to dial. Swedish gasa, compare Gothic us-gaisjan to terrify, us-geisnan to be terrified. Compare Aghast, Ghastly, Ghost, Hesitate.]

To fix the eyes in a steady and earnest look; to look with eagerness or curiosity, as in admiration, astonishment, or with studious attention.
Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? — Acts i. 11

Gaze , transitive verb

To view with attention; to gaze on. [Rare]
And gazed a while the ample sky. — Milton

Gaze , noun

1.
A fixed look; a look of eagerness, wonder, or admiration; a continued look of attention.
With secret gaze Or open admiration him behold. — Milton
2.
The object gazed on.
Made of my enemies the scorn and gaze. — Milton
I that rather held it better men should perish one by one, Than that earth should stand at gaze like Joshua's moon in Ajalon! — Tennyson
Collocations (1)
At gaze (Heraldry) , (a) (Her.) With the face turned directly to the front; -- said of the figures of the stag, hart, buck, or hind, when borne, in this position, upon an escutcheon. (b) In a position expressing sudden fear or surprise; -- a term used in stag hunting to describe the manner of a stag when he first hears the hounds and gazes round in apprehension of some hidden danger; hence, standing agape; idly or stupidly gazing.