people-watchv.
/ˈpiːplwɒtʃ/, U.S. /ˈpipəlˌwɑtʃ/ intransitive. To pass time in a public place by idly observing people. Cf. people-watching n.
ΚΠ
1961 Anderson (Indiana) Herald 24 Aug. 18/2 Another of his novels, recently published, is titled ‘Blood and Water’... He people-watched in Israel for that one.
1967 E. B. Nickerson Kayaks to Arctic vii. 51 I sat and wrote post cards home and people-watched.
1977 H. Kaplan Damascus Cover (1978) iv. 44 They ate in silence, content to people-watch.
1988 P. Monette Borrowed Time x. 264 He'd spent three years in Paris..walking around and sitting over coffee, all the better to people-watch.
2000 N.Y. Mag. 3 Jan. 38/3 Gossip and people-watch over a spirited salade folle or the goat-cheese-and-tomato napoleon.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
v.1961