Turns to stare about (7)
I believe the answer is:
rotates
'turns' is the definition.
(rotating is a kind of turning)
'to stare about' is the wordplay.
'about' is an anagram indicator.
'to'+'stare'='tostare'
'tostare' with letters rearranged gives 'ROTATES'.
(Other definitions for rotates that I've seen before include "revolves" , "Turns around an axis" , "Goes round" , "Turns round" , "Takes turns" .)