Context in my first post : Equivalents in other languages of "Eagle-Eyed" (someone with sharp vision)
I am now searching for other languages than French and English for this Idiom meaning “Looking angrily at someone, stare at someone with anger”.
So english seems to be “To look dagger at someone”
In french we have
What are other equivalents in other languages ?
The usual way in German is in my impression not a verbal phrase but the locution Wenn Blicke töten könnten… (“if looks could kill…”) with the implied completion “… the person looked at would be dead”). As far as I know this is also used in English.
We also use this version in french. Thanks
I’m guessing this phrase has a bit of regionalism to it. I’ve only ever heard of “staring daggers”, but I found this reddit thread:
In Italian (or maybe it’s more like a local saying) we say “fulminare con gli occhi/lo sguardo”, which literally means “strike with lightning with one’s eyes/look”
Russian: глаза мечут искры/огонь/молнии “the eyes are flinging sparks/fire/thunderbolts.”
Spanish: “le clavo la mirada” he stabbed him with his stare. It just means somebody is staring
in Korean from what I can recall, but one good one is 눈총을 쏘다, literally: to shoot eye bullets at someone
‘Looking daggers’ is definitely a thing in English; we also have ‘give the evil eye’. We also have ‘give a black look’, but I would say that’s maybe less intense.
I’m not sure if it’s just a typo (twice) in the OP, but in English I’ve only heard “look daggers” (plural), not “look dagger”. Googling seems to agree.
That is not correct Spanish, not even if you put the accent on the right place. That would be clavó to make it the simple past tense of the verb clavar. Clavar means to stick like a dagger into your back, or to nail like a nail into a block of wood, or to pin like a poster, among other meanings. Otherwise, without accent, it means “nail” like the metal thing you hit with a hammer, not the thing that grows at the end of your fingers (and you hit with a hammer too, but that hurts) and toes. The sentence suggested does not make sense in any of those cases, I would say it is simply wrong.
You could say fulminar (a alguien) con la mirada. Fulminar stems from the Latin fulminare: to die instantly when struck by lightning. That is some magical thinking there! I can relate.
The French foudroyer already mentioned by the OP is obviously related.
In German, apart from what Mops correctly observed, I can think of jemanden einen vernichtenden Blick zuwerfen, that is to give somebody a withering look. Sounds a bit weak by comparison, does not reach modern levels of lethality, perhaps somebody can think of something better.
English also has a “death stare”.
It’s a typo twice (french keyboard with autocorrect which know I use dagger in rôle playing games and never daggers)
Brit here: I’ve heard ‘giving them daggers’ many times but ‘looking daggers’ is a knew one on me.
This is not quite so aggressive as “daggers” and it’s regional English, rather than a different language, though I’m guessing the English is probably a translation from Hawaiian. But here we say “to give someone the stink-eye.” It is …disapproving.