look daggers


Glare, stare fiercely, as in When she started to discuss their finances, he looked daggers at her. This metaphoric term, likening an angry expression to a dagger's thrust, dates from ancient times and has appeared in English since about 1600.

Words Nearby look daggers

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use look daggers in a sentence

  • Enyhow, I know ye've got to come to city ways when ye're to the city; folks kinder look daggers at ye ef ye don't.

    Uncle Rutherford's Nieces | Joanna H. Mathews
  • Nurse will look daggers at me and think I've been bullying you.

    Cynthia | Leonard Merrick
  • They look daggers at me if I put my head into the schoolroom.'

    The Two Sides of the Shield | Charlotte M. Yonge
  • You might look daggers at him for an hour and he would not notice it, and it would not trouble him if he did.

    Three Men in a Boat | Jerome K. Jerome
  • He was very musical, you know; he'd look daggers at you if you happened to sneeze in the middle of one of his Beethoven sonatas.

    The Story Of Julia Page | Kathleen Norris