different between seek vs stare

English

Etymology

From Middle English seken (also sechen, whence dialectal English seech), from Old English s??an, with influence from Old Norse sœkja, whence the hard /k/ sound (compare beseech); both from Proto-Germanic *s?kijan? (“to seek”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh?g- (“to seek out”). Cognate with West Frisian sykje, Dutch zoeken, Low German söken, German suchen, Danish søge, Icelandic sækja, Norwegian Bokmål søke, Norwegian Nynorsk søkja, Swedish söka.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si?k/, s?k
• Homophone: Sikh
• Rhymes: -i?k

Verb

seek (third-person singular simple present seeks, present participle seeking, simple past and past participle sought)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To try to find; to look for; to search for.
2. (transitive) To ask for; to solicit; to beseech.
   • 1611, Bible (King James Version), Luke xi. 16

     Others, tempting him, sought of him a sign.

   • 1960, Lobsang Rampa, The Rampa Story:

     “My, my! It is indeed a long way yet, look you!” said the pleasant woman of whom I sought directions.

3. (transitive) To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at.
   • 1880, George Q. Cannon, How the Gospel is Preached By the Elders, etc.:

     But persecution sought the lives of men of this character.

   • 1886, Constantine Popoff, translation of Leo Tolstoy's What I Believe:

     I can no longer seek fame or glory, nor can I help trying to get rid of my riches, which separate me from my fellow-creatures.

   • Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To go, move, travel (in a given direction).

   • Ryght so he sought […] towarde Sandewyche where he founde before hym many galyard knyghtes

5. (transitive) To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to.

   • Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

   • 1726 (tr.), Alexander Pope, Homer's Odyssey, Book II, line 33

     Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains

6. (intransitive) To attempt, endeavour, try

   Our company does not seek to limit its employees from using the internet or engaging in social networking.

7. (intransitive, computing) To navigate through a stream.

   Synonym: scrub

   • 2009, Jit Ghosh, Rob Cameron, Silverlight 2 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (page 541)

     Most of the changes made to this control are to accommodate the various constraints that playback of streaming media may impose in broadcast streams, such as the inability to seek through the media.

Quotations

For more quotations using this term, see Citations:seek.

Usage notes

• The word is sometimes used to mean "try" or "want". This usage is criticized by Fowler in the entry "Formal Words".

Synonyms

• look for
• search

Derived terms

Related terms

• hide and seek
• seeker

Translations

Noun

seek (plural seeks)

1. (computing) The operation of navigating through a stream.
   • 2012, Aidong Zhang, Avi Silberschatz, Sharad Mehrotra, Continuous Media Databases (page 120)

     The number of seeks to retrieve a shot […] depends on the location of those frames on physical blocks.

Anagrams

• eeks, ekes, kees, seke, skee

Estonian

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German sêkhûs (“hospital”) (equivalent to sêk +? hûs). From Proto-West Germanic *seuk, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *seukaz (“sick”). Compare German Siechenhaus (“infirmary”), English sickhouse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?se?k/
• Rhymes: -e?k
• Hyphenation: seek

Noun

seek (genitive seegi, partitive seeki)

1. almshouse
   1. A residence and shelter for sick people in the Middle Ages.
   2. (colloquial) A nursing home, retirement home; poorhouse

Declension

References

• seek” in Sõnaveeb

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /st???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /st??(?)/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophone: stair

Etymology 1

From Middle English staren, from Old English starian (“to stare”), from Proto-Germanic *starjan?, *star?n? (“to be fixed, be rigid”), from Proto-Indo-European *stere-, *str?- (“strong, steady”). Cognate with Dutch staren (“to stare”), German starren (“to stare”), Norwegian stare (“to stare”), German starr (“stiff”). More at start.

Verb

stare (third-person singular simple present stares, present participle staring, simple past and past participle stared)

1. (intransitive, construed with at) To look fixedly (at something).

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:stare

   • 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.

2. (transitive) To influence in some way by looking fixedly.

   to stare a timid person into submission

3. (intransitive) To be very conspicuous on account of size, prominence, colour, or brilliancy.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To stand out; to project; to bristle.
   • 1707, John Mortimer, The whole Art of Husbandry, in the way of Managing and Improving of Land

     Take off all the staring straws, twigs 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
• upstaring

Translations

Noun

stare (plural stares)

1. A persistent gaze.

   the stares of astonished passers-by

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English star, ster, from Old English stær (“starling”), from Proto-Germanic *starô (“starling”), from Proto-Indo-European *stor- (“starling”). Cognate with German Star (“starling”), Danish stær (“starling”), Swedish stare (“starling”), Norwegian Nynorsk stare (“starling”), Icelandic stari (“starling”). Compare also Old English stearn (“a type of bird, starling”).

Noun

stare (plural stares)

1. (now archaic) A starling. [from 9th c.]
   • 1634, William Wood, New Englands Prospect, I:

     The Stares be bigger than tho?e in England, as blacke as Crowes, being the most trouble?ome, and injurious bird of all others […].

Anagrams

• 'earts, -aster, Aters, Sater, TASer, Taser, Tesar, arets, arste, aster, earst, rates, reast, resat, setar, stear, tares, tarse, taser, tears, teras

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

stare

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of staren

Anagrams

• Aster

Italian

Etymology

From Latin st?re, present active infinitive of st?, from Proto-Indo-European *steh?-. Cognate with Spanish estar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sta.re/
• Rhymes: -are

Verb

stàre (first-person singular present (with following syntactic gemination) stò, first-person singular past historic stètti or (popular) stièdi, past participle stàto, first-person singular future starò, first-person singular present subjunctive stìa, first-person singular imperfect subjunctive stéssi, second-person singular imperative stai or sta' or (with following syntactic gemination) sta, auxiliary essere) (intransitive)

1. to stay, remain

2. to keep, stick [+ a (object)]
3. (followed by a gerund) to be doing something (present continuous)

4. to be up to [+ a (object)]

5. to be about to [+ per (object)]

6. (mathematics) to be to [+ a (object)]

7. (regional) to live

8. to be in a certain condition

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to stay): essere, restare, rimanere
• (to remain): restare, rimanere
• (to be): essere
• (to live): vivere, abitare
• (to keep, etc.): attenersi (a)
• (to be up to): toccare (a), spettare (a)

Derived terms

Related terms

Anagrams

• resta, sarte, tersa

Latin

Verb

st?re

1. present active infinitive of st?

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?star?/, [?star?]

Adjective

stare

1. inflection of stary:
   1. neuter nominative/accusative singular
   2. nominative/accusative plural

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• star

Etymology

From Old Norse stari.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²st??r?/

Noun

stare m (definite singular staren, indefinite plural starar, definite plural starane)

1. a starling (a songbird, Sturnus vulgaris)

See also

• stær (Bokmål)

References

• “stare” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sta.r?/

Adjective

stare

1. inflection of stary:
   1. neuter nominative/accusative/vocative singular
   2. nonvirile nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Romanian

Etymology

From the verb sta.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -are

Noun

stare f (plural st?ri)

1. status, standing, situation, position, condition
2. state

Derived terms

• în stare

See also

• stat

Serbo-Croatian

Adjective

stare

1. inflection of star:
   1. masculine accusative plural
   2. feminine genitive singular
   3. feminine nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Swedish

Noun

stare c

1. starling (a bird)

Declension

Anagrams

• arets, etsar, raset, reats, retas, treas

Tarantino

Etymology

From Latin st?re, present active infinitive of st?, from Proto-Indo-European *steh?-.

Verb

stare

1. (intransitive) to stay, remain
2. (intransitive) to be

Conjugation

• Full conjugation needed.
• Present tense:- stoche, sté or stéje, sté or stéje, stáme, státe, stonne