far-off look

far-off look

A facial expression or gaze that suggests that one is preoccupied by or contemplating something and not paying attention to one's current surroundings. Based on that far-off look on his face, I doubt he's heard a word I've said.
See also: look
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • faraway look
  • spaced (out)
  • spacey
  • spacy
  • gaze at (one's) navel
  • can't see past the end of (one's) nose
  • have (one's) mind on (something)
  • be in the thick of it
  • boys and their toys
  • nerd magnet
References in classic literature
'Are you fond of the poets, Mr Mealing?' she said, with a far-off look.
The Man Upstairs and Other Stories
She was so preoccupied that at first she did not know me, though she sat looking at me with that curious, bright-eyed, far-off look of hers.
Bleak House
But Ona seems scarcely to hear them--the music keeps calling, and the far-off look comes back, and she sits with her hands pressed together over her heart.
Jungle
For Lola, 15, Wisconsin, Belle from Beauty and the Beast energizes: With a dreamy, far-off look / And her nose stuck in a book.
Our Hit parade
With the flicker of a smile, a tense breath, or a far-off look, she elevates a banal plot twist or saves a clumsy expository moment, injecting it with mystery and depth and assuring us that nothing is as simple as it seems.
Forced humor: Johanna Fateman on Paul Verhoeven's Elle
Apart from the people who saw you taking a suspiciously long time in the rough while wearing a bright green "privacy shield" and a far-off look.
Inventive ideas not quite at play; MALE BOX
For four decades now the 75 year-old has been a familiar fixture in the newsroom, more often than not seen pacing the office floor with a far-off look of concentration on his face as he contemplated his next victim.
Bert's glorious part in Post history draws to fitting close; AGENDA
"That would be like a miracle for the club and for myself," he says with a far-off look in his eye.
My hero Michael Bolton needed 2 bodyguards to get him through the crowds .. I needed NINE; South Koreans rated Dick more important than his pop idol UEFA CUP FINAL 1 DAY TO GO UEFA CUP FINAL 2008 READY RANGERS IN MANCHESTER
As Jack Twist, Gyllenhaal attempts in scene after scene to make eye contact with Ledger but gets only a far-off look from those hardened brown eyes.
Heath Ledger and the idolatry of dying young
When Neil Peterson gets that far-off look at the dinner table, or bolts out of bed in the middle of the night, his wife, Linda Peterson, knows the reason why.
For Petersons, the product - not the work - is a grind