look
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English
Etymology
From Middle English loken, lokien, from Old English lōcian, from Proto-West Germanic *lōkōn. Further origin unknown, no certain cognates outside Germanic.[1] Cognate with Scots luke, luik, leuk (“to look, see”), West Frisian lôkje, loaitsje (“to look”), Dutch loeken (“to look”), German Low German löken. Likely also related to German lugen (“to peek”), Alemannic German luege (“to look”), Yiddish לוגן (lugn). Possibly related to Sanskrit लोक् (lok, “to see, behold”) (from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“light”) in the sense of "illuminating" (cf. related word रुच् (ruc) "to shine, illuminate")).[2]
Pronunciation
- enPR: lo͝ok, IPA(key): /lʊk/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Homophone: luck (most of Northern England)
- (some Northern Enɡlish dialects, esp. Bolton, Geordie) IPA(key): /luːk/ (formerly more widespread)[3]
- (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA(key): /lʉk/
- Rhymes: -ʊk, -uːk
Verb
look (third-person singular simple present looks, present participle looking, simple past and past participle looked)
- To try to see, to pay attention to with one’s eyes.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:look
- (intransitive) As an intransitive verb, often with "at".
- Troponyms: glance; see also Thesaurus:stare
- They kept looking at me.
- Don’t look in the closet.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. […] She looked around expectantly, and recognizing Mrs. Cooke's maid […] Miss Thorn greeted her with a smile which greatly prepossessed us in her favor.
- 1918, W B Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.
- 1968, Ray Thomas (lyrics and music), “Legend of a Mind”, in In Search of the Lost Chord, performed by The Moody Blues:
- Timothy Leary's dead.
No, no no no, he's outside, looking in.
- (transitive, colloquial) As a transitive verb, often in the imperative; chiefly takes relative clause as direct object.
- 1972, The Godfather:
- Look how they massacred my boy.
- Look what you did to him!
- Look who's back!
- To appear, to seem.
- It looks as if it’s going to rain soon. or It looks like it’s going to rain soon. or It looks like rain [is coming].
- Our new boss looks to be a lot friendlier.
- It looks as if [or like] I'm stuck with you.
- Ostriches look like emus to some people, but they are only distantly related.
- (UK) He always looks like scoring a goal if not two.
- c. 1701-03, Joseph Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c., Dedication:
- THERE is a pleaſure in owning obligations which it is a pleaſure to have received; but ſhould I publiſh any favours done me by your Lordſhip, I am afraid it would look more like vanity, than gratitude.
- 1908, W B M Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- So this was my future home, I thought! […] Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
- 1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, pages 264-265:
- You wake up next morning on what looks like Salisbury Plain, only here you climb up the side of every combe, round the end and out the other side.
- 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
- He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit any more, except to the Boy.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.
- 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport:
- And when scrum-half Ben Youngs, who had a poor game, was burgled by opposite number Irakli Abuseridze and the ball shipped down the line to Irakli Machkhaneli, it looked like Georgia had scored a try of their own, but the winger's foot was in touch.
- 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:
- From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.
- (copulative) To give an appearance of being.
- That painting looks nice.
- 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, chapter 6, Monk Samson:
- Once, slipping the money clandestinely, just in the act of taking leave, he slipt it not into her hand but on the floor, and another had it; whereupon the poor Monk, coming to know it, looked mere despair for some days […].
- (intransitive, often with "for") To search for, to try to find.
- To face or present a view.
- The hotel looks over the valleys of the HinduKush.
- 1769, Benjamin Blayney (editor), King James Bible, Oxford standard text, Ezekiel, xi, 1,
- Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD's house, which looketh eastward:
- 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: Elkin Mathews, , →OCLC:
- Wornath-Mavai lieth in a valley and looketh towards the south, and on the slopes of it Sish rested among the flowers when Sish was young.
- To expect or anticipate.
- I look to each hour for my lover’s arrival.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Fairie Queene, Book VI, Canto XI, 1750, The Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 4, page 139,
- 2006, Noire , Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 108:
- "Ain't gone be no Rikers Island for you next time," I warned him. "You get tapped on another gun charge and you looking at some upstate time."
Looking each Hour into Death's Mouth to fall,
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- Gloster, what ere we like, thou art Protector,
And lookest to command the Prince and Realme.
- (transitive) To express or manifest by a look.
- c. 1815, Lord Byron, Waterloo:
- Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,
- (transitive, often with "to") To make sure of, to see to.
- 1898, Homer, translated by Samuel Butler, The Odyssey:
- "Look to it yourself, father," answered Telemachus, "for they say you are the wisest counsellor in the world, and that there is no other mortal man who can compare with you. […]
- (dated, sometimes figurative) To show oneself in looking.
- Look out of the window [i.e. lean out] while I speak to you.
- c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- I have […] more feet than shoes, or such shoes as my toes look through the overleather.
- (transitive, archaic or dialectal) To check, to make sure (of something).
- 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Great Storm Described, the Long-Boat Sent to Fetch Water, the Author Goes with It to Discover the Country. ”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. , volume I, London: Benj Motte, , →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page 151:
- Finding it was like to overblow, we took in our Sprit-ſail, and ſtood by to hand the Fore-ſail; but making foul Weather, we look'd the Guns were all faſt, and handed the Miſſen.
- (transitive, obsolete) To look at; to turn the eyes toward.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, […].
- (transitive, obsolete) To seek; to search for.
- c. 1552–1599, Edmund Spenser, unidentified sonnet,
- Looking my love, I go from place to place,
Like a young fawn that late hath lost the hind;
And seek each where, where last I saw her face,
Whose image yet I carry fresh in mind.
- Looking my love, I go from place to place,
- c. 1552–1599, Edmund Spenser, unidentified sonnet,
- (transitive, obsolete) To influence, overawe, or subdue by looks or presence.
- to look down opposition
- 1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy, Act 3, Scene 1, 1701, The Comedies, Tragedies, and Operas Written by John Dryden, Esq, Volume 2, page 464,
- A Spirit fit to start into an Empire,
And look the World to Law.
- A Spirit fit to start into an Empire,
- 1882, Wilkie Collins, Heart and Science:
- Ovid might have evaded her entreaties by means of an excuse. But her eyes were irresistible: they looked him into submission in an instant.
- (baseball) To look at a pitch as a batter without swinging at it.
- The fastball caught him looking.
- Clem Labine struck Mays out looking at his last at bat.
- It's unusual for Mays to strike out looking. He usually takes a cut at it.
Conjugation
Conjugation of look
| infinitive | (to) look | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | look | looked | |
| 2nd-person singular | look, lookest† | looked, lookedst† | |
| 3rd-person singular | looks, looketh† | looked | |
| plural | look | ||
| subjunctive | look | looked | |
| imperative | look | — | |
| participles | looking | looked | |
Derived terms
phrasal verbs derived from look (verb)
other terms derived from look (verb)
- a cat can look at a king
- a cat may look at a king
- as soon as look at someone
- belook
- does someone look like
- don't look a gift horse in the mouth
- don't look at me
- don't look now
- forelook
- look a fright
- look alike
- lookalike, look-alike
- look alive
- look as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence
- look as if one has been dragged through a hedge backwards
- look as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence
- look-at-me
- look at oneself in the mirror
- look at you
- look before one leaps
- look before you leap
- look beyond
- look beyond the end of one's nose
- look beyond the tip of one's nose
- look daggers
- look down one's nose
- lookee
- looker
- look for a dog to kick
- look for number one
- look for trouble
- look here
- look in the face
- lookit
- look like
- look like a bomb has hit it
- look like one swallowed a bug
- look like something the cat brought in
- look like something the cat dragged in
- look like something the cat's dragged in
- look like who did it and ran
- look like who did it and ran away
- look lively
- look off
- look on as
- look one's age
- look one's best
- look oneself
- look on the black side
- look on the bright side
- look on the bright side of it
- look on the dark side
- look on the dark side of it
- look on the gloomy side
- look on the positive side
- look-out book
- look out for number one
- look out for Number One
- lookout, look-out
- look over one's shoulder
- look past the end of one's nose
- look past the tip of one's nose
- look-see
- look sharp
- look shy
- look snappy
- look someone in the eye
- look the other way
- look the part
- look through rose-colored glasses
- look through rose-tinted glasses
- look under rocks
- look up and down
- look what the cat dragged in
- look what the cat drug in
- look what the cat's brought in
- look what the cat's dragged in
- look who's talking
- look who the cat dragged in
- look you
- made you look
- mislook
- never look a gift horse in the mouth
- no-look
- not look a day over
- not much to look at
- onlooker
- outlook
- outward-looking
- overlook
- relook
- underlook
- you don't look at the mantelpiece when you poke the fire
- you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire
Translations
to try to see
|
to appear, to seem
|
give an appearance of being
|
look for — see look for
to face
|
to expect
baseball: to look at a pitch without swinging
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
Interjection
look
- Pay attention.
- Look, I'm going to explain what to do, so you have to listen closely.
Synonyms
Translations
interjection to attract attention
|
Noun
look (plural looks)
- The action of looking; an attempt to see.
- Let’s have a look under the hood of the car.
- (often plural) Physical appearance, visual impression.
- She got her mother’s looks.
- I don’t like the look of the new design.
- 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:
- He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. […] But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again her partner was haled off with a frightened look to the royal circle, […]
- A facial expression.
- He gave me a dirty look.
- If looks could kill ...
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
action of looking
|
physical appearance
|
facial expression
|
See also
References
- ^ Philippa, Marlies, Debrabandere, Frans, Quak, Arend, Schoonheim, Tanneke, van der Sijs, Nicoline (2003–2009) “look”, in Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands (in Dutch), Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
- ^ Monier Williams (1899) “look”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, , new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 906.
- ^ “Look” in John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary , London: Sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinſon, Paternoſter Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1791, →OCLC, page 329, column 2.
Anagrams
Chinese
Etymology
Pronunciation
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
- Jyutping: luk1
- Yale: lūk
- Cantonese Pinyin: luk7
- Guangdong Romanization: lug1
- Sinological IPA (key): /lʊk̚⁵/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)+
Noun
look
References
Dutch
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch look, from Old Dutch *lōk, from Proto-Germanic *laukaz. Compare Low German look, Look, German Lauch, English leek, Danish løg, Swedish lök. More at leek.
Pronunciation
Noun
look n or m (plural loken, diminutive lookje n)
Derived terms
species
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation
Verb
look
Etymology 3
Pronunciation
Noun
look m (plural looks)
- a look, (clothing) style, appearance
Derived terms
Etymology 4
Related to luiken, cognate with English lock.
Noun
look m (plural loken, diminutive )
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
look m (plural looks)
- a style; appearance; look
- Je trouve que son nouveau look ne lui va pas du tout. ― I think his new look doesn't suit him at all.
Derived terms
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English look.
Pronunciation
Noun
look m (plural looks)
- (informal) look; outfit, style (a set of clothing with accessories)
- Synonym: visual
- Amei seu look. ― I love your outfit.
Romanian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English look.
Noun
look n (plural lookuri)
Declension
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | ||
| nominative-accusative | look | lookul | lookuri | lookurile | |
| genitive-dative | look | lookului | lookuri | lookurilor | |
| vocative | lookule | lookurilor | |||
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English look.
Pronunciation
Noun
look m (plural looks)
- (informal) a look; style, appearance
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Further reading
- “look”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
Tagalog
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *luquk (“bay”). Compare Ilocano luek, Kapampangan lauk, Cebuano luok, Tausug luuk, and Malay teluk.
Pronunciation
- (Standard Tagalog)
- Syllabification: lo‧ok
Noun
loók (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜓᜂᜃ᜔)
Derived terms
See also
Further reading
- “look”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018