once-over

• once over

From the idea of going over something once.

once-over (plural once-overs)

1. A quick clean or polish.

   I gave the room a once-over with the mop.

2. A cursory inspection or survey.

   My GP gave me the once-over and said it was merely a cold.

   I'll give it a once-over for free, but a proper look will cost you.

   • 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Not too Far Tangent”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 22:

     The girls sat there while the johns (customers) moped around giving them the once-over.

   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter VIII, in Jeeves in the Offing:

     The dear old room was just as I'd left it, nothing changed, and my first move, of course, was to procure another chair and give the top of the armoire the once-over. It was a set-back to find that the cow-creamer wasn't there.

   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter XIII, in Jeeves in the Offing:

     Giving the wench the once-over as she entered, I found myself well able to understand why Bobbie on observing her entangled with [her fiancé] had exploded with so loud a report.

   • 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 4, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 61:

     He gave her the once-over, hooked with his foot a swivel chair from the next desk and rolled it over for her.

• (inspection): Commonly used with the definite article (“the once-over”, “the old once-over”), particularly when applied to people.

• lookover

• look-see
• spot check

• overcone