at gaze

English

A stag at gaze.

Prepositional phrase

at gaze

1. (chiefly heraldry) Gazing; standing so as to stare (especially of deer); statant guardant. (Compare at bay.)
   • 1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

     When he wished to draw Harvey's attention to the peak-halyards, he dug his knuckles into the back of the boy's neck and kept him at gaze for half a minute.

   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     Lord John was standing at gaze with his finger on the trigger of his elephant-gun, his eager hunter's soul shining from his fierce eyes.

   • 1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 52:

     They were prick-eared animals, roused by her voice from their business and standing now at gaze.