stare down

1. Cause someone to waver or give in by or as if by being stared at. For example, Insisting on a better room, he stared down the manager until he got it. This expression alludes to staring at someone without being the first to blink or lower one's gaze. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

It also saved activist hedge funds targeting the Tylenol maker that had been staring down huge losses.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Governments across the country are staring down large deficits as their labor costs and retirement obligations balloon at the same time as federal Covid dollars are drying up.

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There was a frantic escape in a bases-loaded jam the next half inning, the Dodgers staring down certain defeat, only to once again prevail.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

She stared down at the robot for a while, admiring her own handiwork.

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"He wasn't struggling, he was walking quite calmly, a bit dejectedly, he was staring down, he had his hood up, but it was a calm situation," he added.

Read more on BBC