death stare

plural death stares

1. informalA hateful or contemptuous look directed at someone; a dirty look.

   “I thought it was bring-your-kid-to-work day,” replied Dad, clearly hoping a joke might soften them. He was wrong, as the two goons gave the man a death stare.

   2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

2. A supposed stare that will cause death.

   1 more example

   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.

   2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 81

   Synonyms: death glare