The phrase "a withering gaze" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a look that conveys disapproval, scorn, or disdain, often making the subject feel diminished or belittled.
Example: "She met his withering gaze, feeling the weight of his judgment upon her."
Alternatives: "a scathing look" or "a piercing stare."
I thought of that when I learned of the death of Harriet McBryde Johnson, who looked at the world with an unflinching, sometimes withering, gaze.
The term basilisk, the name of a mythical dragonlike beast of withering gaze and flaming breath, was applied to early "long" cannon capable of firing cast-iron projectiles, but, early cannon terminology being anything but consistent, any particularly large and powerful cannon might be called a basilisk.
In the novel, Miranda, the editor-in-chief of Runway, is a bullying boss who turns her withering gaze on Andy if the milk in her latte isn't frothy enough.
OSPOP ONE-DAY, ONE-HANDLE BAG Inspired by mass migrations in China, the One-Day, One-Handle bag (www.ospop.com) is a small carryall that's sturdy enough to survive a Xinjiang-to-Beijing trek and stylish enough to survive the withering gaze of New York fashion critics.
Accessories are not spared the withering gaze of the fashion arbiters at league headquarters, either.
In her new novel, The Table of Less Valued Knights, she subjects the tales of Camelot to her withering gaze.
Cordero had been on the receiving end of Slew's withering gaze many times and was hardly surprised.
Casting his withering gaze freely across the political spectrum, Fassbinder derides the predatory manipulations that pass for information and ideology, compared to which Corinna's tawdry art appears as a redemptive mask of gaiety.
Being a classier scribe than the gardening correspondent, Jenkins at least changes some names and explains why in this particular week he is, reluctantly, turning his withering gaze on the party.
