Talk:look out

"To gaze vaguely or over a broad area"

@Imetsia, not sure about the last sense you added. The example quote reads to me as just the sum-of-parts meaning of look + out:

On the morning of the eighth day, he found himself looking out across the river.

I don't know the context of the quote, but I would imagine that "out" here is just indicating that the character is looking "outward", i.e. toward a location some distance from their current position, perhaps outside of their house or campsite or whatever. Colin M (talk) 17:59, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

@Colin M: Maybe you're right. Expressions like "look out over" or "look out at" or "look out across" are very common. A quick search in Google Books and Google News reveals many results. But whenever I read the locution in a sentence, I get the impression that there's an element of meditation, wonder, wistfulness, etc. Maybe I'm just reading too much into the sentences though. Imetsia (talk) 18:08, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

I can see that, but I think that might be more a property of the act itself rather than the wording. I can certainly imagine it being used without those connotations, e.g. Alice hears gunshots and looks out across the river to try to identify the source of the noise. Colin M (talk) 18:15, 15 March 2021 (UTC)