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Stare vs Stagger - What's the difference?

stare | stagger |

As nouns the difference between stare and stagger

is that stare is : starlings while stagger is an unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing, as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion; vertigo; -- often in the plural; as, the stagger of a drunken man.

As a verb stagger is

sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.

stare

English

(wikipedia stare)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . More at (l).

Verb

(star)
  • To look fixedly (at something).
  • {{quote-Fanny Hill, part=2 , Her sturdy stallion had now unbutton'd, and produced naked, stiff, and erect, that wonderful machine, which I had never seen before, and which, for the interest my own seat of pleasure began to take furiously in it, I star'd at with all the eyes I had}}
  • *
  • *:A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.
  • To be very conspicuous on account of size, prominence, colour, or brilliancy.
  • :staring windows or colours
  • (obsolete) To stand out; to project; to bristle.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Makest my blood cold, and my hair to stare .
  • * John Mortimer (1656?-1736)
  • *:Take off all the staring straws and jags in the hive.
  • Troponyms
    * gaze, to stare intently or earnestly * ogle, to stare covetously or amorously
    Derived terms
    * stare someone in the face

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A persistent gaze.
  • the stares of astonished passers-by

    Etymology 2

    (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A starling.
  • (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    * ----

    stagger

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing, as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion; vertigo; -- often in the plural; as, the stagger of a drunken man.
  • A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling; as, parasitic staggers; apoplectic or sleepy staggers.
  • bewilderment; perplexity.
  • In motorsport, the difference in circumference between the left and right tires on a racing vehicle. It is used on oval tracks to make the car turn better in the corners. Stock Car Racing magazine article on stagger, February 2009
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • sway unsteadily, reel, or totter
  • # In standing or walking, to sway from one side to the other as if about to fall; to stand or walk unsteadily; to reel or totter.
  • She began to stagger across the room.
  • #* Dryden
  • Deep was the wound; he staggered with the blow.
  • # To cause to reel or totter.
  • The powerful blow of his opponent's fist staggered the boxer.
  • #* Shakespeare
  • That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire / That staggers thus my person.
  • # To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail.
  • #* Addison
  • The enemy staggers .
  • doubt, waver, be shocked
  • # To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate.
  • #* Bible, Rom. iv. 20
  • He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.
  • # To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock.
  • He will stagger the committee when he presents his report.
  • #* Howell
  • Whosoever will read the story of this war will find himself much staggered .
  • #* Burke
  • Grants to the house of Russell were so enormous, as not only to outrage economy, but even to stagger credibility.
  • Multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly-spaced, times or places (attested from 1856 Etymology] in [[:w:Online Etymology Dictionary, Online Etymology Dictionary]).
  • # To arrange (a series of parts) on each side of a median line alternately, as the spokes of a wheel or the rivets of a boiler seam.
  • # To arrange similar objects such that each is ahead or above and to one side of the next.
  • We will stagger the starting positions for the race on the oval track.
  • # To schedule in intervals.
  • We will stagger the run so the faster runners can go first, then the joggers.
  • See also

    * bestagger * staggeringly * staggers

    References

    Anagrams

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