rubberneck

rubberneck

1. verb To gawk, gape, or stare, especially with a naïve, unsophisticated, or foolish manner. I hate the amount of people who descend on the city each year wander around and rubberneck. People kept clogging up traffic as they slowed down to rubberneck at the accident.
2. noun Someone who gawks or stares in such a manner. The famous cathedral was filled with rubbernecks, much to the chagrin of the regular churchgoers. A bunch of rubbernecks gathered around to watch the building burn.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

rubberneck

1. n. one who stares at something or someone; a tourist. (see also gander.) At noon the sidewalks are crowded with rubbernecks.
2. in. to stare (at something or someone). Traffic is stalled because of all the drivers who are rubbernecking.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • rubbernecker
  • country cousin
  • cousin
  • fall off the cabbage truck
  • fall off the turnip truck
  • just fell off the turnip truck
  • turnip
  • twitty
  • twity
  • boggle at (something)
References in periodicals archive
One day, the Germans appeared to have vacated the compound, but Sweanor's log showed Rubberneck still somewhere inside the prison camp.
In light of getting the coveted support slot for Blues Pills, organized by GS promotions and Rubberneck, the band are bringing forward the release of their EP track Uncertain and are planning to make it a free download for two weeks prior to the gig.
Broadfoot winced as if he had just seen a nasty car crash and although some people like to rubberneck road accidents the Sky Sports director snubbed the sadistic ghouls by refusing to show Valencia's ankle break.
If one driver pauses - for instance, to rubberneck - the touch on the brakes creates a two- or three-minute wait for the 50th car behind him.
Local residents and passers-by gathered nearby while motorists slowed down along the busy Harnall Lane to "rubberneck" as the drama unfolded.
Luckily being unfashionably early - an hour and a half - for Julien Macdonald's show it gave me a chance to rubberneck at a proper star and watch the paps in action.
This fifth full-length solo project and second live disc on her own Rubberneck Records imprint is a novel concept--a live album produced by fans--that works on many levels but isn't quite as strong as her more polished studio works.
Almost all of the American media these days, even the prestige press, practice "rubberneck journalism," a fascination for the lurid and morbid.
Forty years ago German moral theologian Bernard Haring wrote that "reverence and love forbid us to pry into the intimate life of our neighbor, or to divulge secrets revealed to us." Those words seem almost quaint in a world where Barbara Walters urges Monica Lewinsky to share details with 40 million viewers, or where so many of us rubberneck at the checkout stand to catch tabloid headlines about some final secret about Di or JFK Jr.
Moreover, a self-driving car won't rubberneck or brake unpredictably.
"Something dead in the street commands more measured units of visual investigation than 100 Mona Lisas!" So says Robert Williams in his "Rubberneck Manifesto" of 1989, and it's true--no Louvre gridlock matches the rubbernecking delays caused by a good carwreck.
stop to rubberneck or film the accident, which in turn, leads to further traffic jams."
If every rubberneck who'd turned up for a squint of James Turner Street had left a tenner, we'd be hearing none of this victimhood piffle.
The centre will also be featuring its own indie club, Rubberneck, showcasing local bands along with national and international names to watch.
The accident happened in the eastbound fast lane as drivers slowed to "rubberneck" a work crew replacing guardrail damaged in an earlier crash, Eugene police Lt.