look
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English loken, lokien, from Old English lōcian, from Proto-West Germanic *lōkōn. Further origin unknown, no certain cognates outside Germanic.[1] The English word, however, is cognate with Scots luke, luik, leuk (“to look, see”), West Frisian lôkje, loaitsje (“to look”), Dutch loeken (“to look”), German Low German löken, Alemannic German luege (“to look”), German lugen (“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[edit]
- enPR: lo͝ok, IPA(key): /lʊk/
- (some Northern Enɡlish dialects, esp. Bolton) IPA(key): /luːk/
- (Liverpool usually) IPA(key): /luːx/
- Rhymes: -uːx
Verb[edit]
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[illiam] B[abington] 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.
- Our new boss looks to be a lot more friendly.
- 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[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] 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.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess[1]:
- 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.
- 2012, Chelsea 6-0 Wolves[2]:
- Chelsea's youngsters, who looked lively throughout, then combined for the second goal in the seventh minute. Romeu's shot was saved by Wolves goalkeeper Dorus De Vries but Piazon kept the ball alive and turned it back for an unmarked Bertrand to blast home.
- (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:
- 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,
- 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- 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,
- c. 1815, Lord Byron, Waterloo,
- (transitive, often with "to") To make sure of, to see to.
- 1898, Homer, Samuel Butler, transl., 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 figuratively) 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act INDUCTION, scene ii]:
- 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. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] 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.
Usage notes[edit]
Though the use of the pronunciation /luːk/ is now restricted to northern English dialects, it was formerly more widespread. For example, it is mentioned without comment in Walker's Critical Pronouncing Dictionary.[3]
Conjugation[edit]
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[edit]
- 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
- forelook
- 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 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 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 lively
- look off
- look on as
- look one's age
- look one's best
- look oneself
- look on the bright side
- lookout, look-out
- look-out book
- look out for Number One
- look out for number one
- 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 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
- not look a day over
- not much to look at
- onlooker
- outlook
- 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[edit]
|
|
|
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
|
Interjection[edit]
look
- Pay attention.
- Look, I'm going to explain what to do, so you have to listen closely.
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
|
Noun[edit]
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[edit]
Descendants[edit]
Translations[edit]
|
|
|
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ 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[edit]
Chinese[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
look
References[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
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[edit]
Noun[edit]
look n or m (plural loken, diminutive lookje n)
Derived terms[edit]
-plant species:
- bieslook (“chives”)
- berglook (“keeled garlic”)
- daslook (“bear leek”)
- eslook (“shallot”)
- knoflook (“garlic”)
- kraailook (“crow garlic”)
- lookprei
- look-zonder-look
- moeslook (“field garlic”)
Etymology 2[edit]
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
look
Etymology 3[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
look m (plural looks)
- A look, (clothing) style, appearance.
Derived terms[edit]
Etymology 4[edit]
Related to luiken, cognate with English lock.
Noun[edit]
look m (plural loken, diminutive [please provide])
Anagrams[edit]
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
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[edit]
Portuguese[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unadapted borrowing from English look.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
look m (plural looks)
- (informal) outfit; look, style (a set of clothing with accessories, usually special clothes)
- Synonym: visual
Romanian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unadapted borrowing from English look.
Noun[edit]
look n (plural lookuri)
Declension[edit]
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) look | lookul | (niște) lookuri | lookurile |
genitive/dative | (unui) look | lookului | (unor) lookuri | lookurilor |
vocative | lookule | lookurilor |
Spanish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unadapted borrowing from English look.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
look m (plural looks)
- (informal) a look; style, appearance
Usage notes[edit]
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[edit]
- “look”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Tagalog[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- looc – obsolete, Spanish-based orthography
- luok – nonstandard
Etymology[edit]
From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *luquk (“bay”). Compare Ilocano luek, Kapampangan lauk, Cebuano luok, Tausug luuk, and Malay teluk.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
loók (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜓᜂᜃ᜔)
Derived terms[edit]
See also[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “look”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila: Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2018
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ʊk
- Rhymes:English/ʊk/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- Rhymes:English/uːk
- Rhymes:English/uːx
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English transitive verbs
- English colloquialisms
- English copulative verbs
- English dated terms
- English terms with archaic senses
- English dialectal terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:Baseball
- English interjections
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Appearance
- en:Communication
- Cantonese terms borrowed from English
- Cantonese terms derived from English
- Chinese lemmas
- Cantonese lemmas
- Chinese nouns
- Cantonese nouns
- Chinese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Hong Kong Cantonese
- Chinese terms written in foreign scripts
- Dutch terms inherited from Middle Dutch
- Dutch terms derived from Middle Dutch
- Dutch terms inherited from Old Dutch
- Dutch terms derived from Old Dutch
- Dutch terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Dutch terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/oːk
- Rhymes:Dutch/oːk/1 syllable
- Dutch terms with homophones
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- Dutch neuter nouns
- Dutch masculine nouns
- Dutch nouns with multiple genders
- nl:Alliums
- Dutch non-lemma forms
- Dutch verb forms
- Dutch terms borrowed from English
- Dutch terms derived from English
- Rhymes:Dutch/uk
- Rhymes:Dutch/uk/1 syllable
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch heteronyms
- French terms borrowed from English
- French terms derived from English
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French terms spelled with K
- French masculine nouns
- French terms with usage examples
- Portuguese terms borrowed from English
- Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English
- Portuguese terms derived from English
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese terms spelled with K
- Portuguese masculine nouns
- Portuguese informal terms
- Romanian terms borrowed from English
- Romanian unadapted borrowings from English
- Romanian terms derived from English
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian terms spelled with K
- Romanian neuter nouns
- Spanish terms borrowed from English
- Spanish unadapted borrowings from English
- Spanish terms derived from English
- Spanish 1-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/uk
- Rhymes:Spanish/uk/1 syllable
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish terms spelled with K
- Spanish masculine nouns
- Spanish informal terms
- Tagalog terms inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
- Tagalog terms derived from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
- Tagalog terms with IPA pronunciation
- Tagalog lemmas
- Tagalog nouns
- Tagalog terms with Baybayin script
- tl:Geography
- Tagalog terms with usage examples