Nancy Reagan gaze

noun

A transfixed look upon a person taken as showing absolute devotion or affection.

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Meanings

nounNancy Reagan gaze (plural Nancy Reagan gazes)

plural Nancy Reagan gazes

  1. A transfixed look upon a person taken as showing absolute devotion or affection.

    Joan’s attention appeared to be wandering from her leader. Instead of fixing him with the requisite Nancy Reagan gaze, she kept sneaking glances out the window.

    2011 February 12, Miriam Lord, “Hard to keep up the Nancy Reagan gaze when a rugby hero undresses”, in The Irish Times
    2 more examples

    Pat Nixon held the title for most stoic [Washington] wife until Maureen Dean gave an Oscar-winning performance during her husband's Watergate testimony, sitting primly behind him, blond hair pulled back, holding the Nancy Reagan gaze before there was a Nancy Reagan gaze.

    1989, Margaret Carlson, "I'M Nobody, Who Are You?", Time, May 8, 1989, ISSN 0040-781X

    Peter Chernin, the head Fox TV programmer, … will titularly replace Roth and serve as Murdoch's malleable functionary. He looks at his boss with a sort of adoring Nancy Reagan gaze.

    1992, Laureen Hobbs, "The Industry & The Webs", Spy, December 1992/January 1993 p. 18 ISSN 0890-1759

Origin

From the attentive look Nancy Reagan was noted for fixing on her husband, Ronald Reagan, U.S. President from 1981 to 1989, when he made public appearances.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Nancy Reagan gaze. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nancy%20Reagan%20gaze

MLA

“Nancy Reagan gaze.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nancy%20Reagan%20gaze. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Nancy Reagan gaze,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nancy%20Reagan%20gaze.

Source: Nancy Reagan gaze on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.