see stars


Perceive flashing lights, especially after a blow to one's head. For example, A swinging door hit me and I really saw stars. [Late 1800s]

Words Nearby see stars

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 see stars in a sentence

  • From Tiger Woods to Carrie Prejean, see stars that also got down digitally.

    Top 10 Celebrity Sexters | The Daily Beast | June 7, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • She fetched me a slap in the face that made me see stars, and my ears rung like a brass kettle for a quarter of an hour.

  • But though it may not listen to your preaching, it will wear your boots, or buy your flour, or see stars through your telescope.

    How to Succeed | Orison Swett Marden
  • And on beyond them, far overhead, he could even see stars, blurred a trifle by the material through which he observed them.

    The Great Airship. | F. S. Brereton
  • Guilty or innocent, he makes them all see stars in the cause of public order.

    The Inspector-General | Nicolay Gogol