look daggers

Idioms  

1. 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.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

look daggers

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.

From Uncle Rutherford's Nieces A Story for Girls by Joanna H. (Joanna Hooe) Mathews

They look daggers at me if I put my head into the schoolroom.'

From The Two Sides of the Shield by Charlotte Mary Yonge

But if one tears a lace flounce, you know, they look daggers.

From Vixen, Volume I. by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

For myself, having acquired only polite French, I can but "look daggers" when I am abused.

From Pencillings by the Way Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in Europe by N. Parker Willis

Mrs. Barr, on this, ceased to look daggers and substituted icicles; but on the hateful beauty moving away, dropped the icicles, and resumed the poniards.

From A Simpleton by Charles Reade

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