look
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
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]
PronunciationEdit
- enPR: lo͝ok, IPA(key): /lʊk/
- (some Northern Enɡlish dialects, esp. Bolton) IPA(key): /luːk/
- (Liverpool usually) IPA(key): /luːx/
- Rhymes: -uːx
VerbEdit
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
- 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, Samuel Butler (translator), Homer, 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. […]
- 1898, Samuel Butler (translator), Homer, The Odyssey,
- (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[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, 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 notesEdit
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]
ConjugationEdit
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 termsEdit
- belook
- forelook
- look alive
- look before you leap
- look daggers
- look down one's nose
- look here
- look lively
- look oneself
- look sharp
- look someone in the eye
- look the other way
- look what the cat's brought in
- look-see
- lookalike, look-alike
- lookee
- looker
- lookit
- lookout, look-out
- mislook
- onlooker
- outlook
- overlook
- relook
- underlook
TranslationsEdit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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InterjectionEdit
look
- Pay attention.
- Look, I'm going to explain what to do, so you have to listen closely.
SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit
NounEdit
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 termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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ReferencesEdit
- ^ 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.
AnagramsEdit
ChineseEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
look
ReferencesEdit
DutchEdit
Etymology 1Edit
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.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
look n or m (uncountable)
- Plants of the genus Allium, especially garlic.
- Several related herbs, like chive, garlic, shallot and leek.
Derived termsEdit
-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 2Edit
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
look
Etymology 3Edit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
look m (plural looks)
- A look, (clothing) style, appearance.
Derived termsEdit
Etymology 4Edit
Related to luiken, cognate with English lock.
NounEdit
look m (plural loken, diminutive [please provide])
AnagramsEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
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 termsEdit
PortugueseEdit
EtymologyEdit
Unadapted borrowing from English look.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
look m (plural looks)
RomanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
Unadapted borrowing from English look.
NounEdit
look n (plural lookuri)
DeclensionEdit
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 |
SpanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
Unadapted borrowing from English look.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
look m (plural looks)
- (informal) a look; style, appearance
Usage notesEdit
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 readingEdit
- “look”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
TagalogEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- looc – obsolete, Abecedario orthography
- luok – nonstandard
EtymologyEdit
From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *luquk (“bay”). Compare Ilocano luek, Kapampangan lauk, Cebuano luok, Tausug luuk, and Malay teluk.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
loók (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜓᜂᜃ᜔)
Derived termsEdit
See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
- “look”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila: Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2018