death stare

death stare (plural death stares)

1. (informal) A hateful or contemptuous look directed at someone; a dirty look.
2. A supposed stare that will cause death.
   • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 81:

     Handsome, with a Freud-like beard and piercing eyes, it was also said that he had perfected the death stare. Whenever he required the skeleton of some exotic beast to compare with his fossil bones, he would visit Basel Zoo and stare at the appropriate animal, which would soon thereafter shuffle off its mortal coil.

• death glare

• evil eye

• death rates, deathrates