To stargaze means to look up at the night sky and observe the stars. When you stargaze, you might lie on a blanket in your backyard on a clear night, watching for shooting stars or trying to identify constellations like the Big Dipper or Orion.

People have stargazed for thousands of years. Ancient sailors used the stars to navigate across oceans. Farmers watched the stars to know when to plant crops. Today, astronomers stargaze with powerful telescopes to study distant galaxies, while families might stargaze from a campsite, marveling at how many more stars become visible away from city lights.

The word can also mean daydreaming or thinking about future possibilities in an unrealistic way. When a teacher says you're stargazing during math class, they mean you're lost in your own thoughts instead of paying attention. In this sense, it's similar to having your head in the clouds. A stargazer is someone who gazes at stars, either literally with a telescope or figuratively by spending lots of time daydreaming about distant possibilities.