look

From Middle English loken, lokien, from Old English lōcian (“to see, behold, look, gaze, observe, notice, take heed, belong, pertain, regard with favor”), from Proto-Germanic *lōkōną (“to look, see”); akin to Proto-Germanic *lōgijaną (“to see”). 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”), Middle Dutch loeken (“to look”), German Low German löken. Possibly related to Sanskrit लोक् (lok, “to see, behold”) *lewk- (“light”) in the sense of "illuminating" (c.f. related word रुच् (ruc) "to shine, illuminate")[2]

• IPA^(key): /lʊk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): [ɫʊ̈k], [ɫɪ̈k]

  • Audio (US)

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  • Rhymes: -ʊk
  • Homophone: luck (most of Northern England)
• (some Northern Enɡlish dialects, esp. Bolton) IPA^(key): /luːk/
  • Rhymes: -uːk
  • Homophone: Luke
• (Liverpool usually) IPA^(key): /luːx/
  • Rhymes: -uːx

look (third-person singular simple present looks, present participle looking, simple past and past participle looked)

1. (intransitive, often with "at") To try to see, to pay attention to with one’s eyes.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:look

   Troponyms: glance; see also Thesaurus:stare

   Look at my new car!

   Don’t look in the closet.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     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 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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.

2. To appear, to seem.

   It looks as if it’s going to rain soon.

   • 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 731476803:

     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:

     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.

3. (copulative) To give an appearance of being.

   That painting looks nice.

4. (intransitive, often with "for") To search for, to try to find.
5. 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:

6. 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,

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

7. (transitive) To express or manifest by a look.
   • c. 1815, Lord Byron, Waterloo,

     Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,

   • 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 […].

8. (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. […]

9. (dated, sometimes figuratively) To show oneself in looking.

   Look out of the window [i.e. lean out] while I speak to you.

   • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Induction, Scene 2, 1831, George Steevens (editor), The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare, [Publication of the copy annotated by Steevens], Volume 1, page 254,

     I have […] more feet than shoes, or such shoes as my toes look through the overleather.

10. (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 639762314, page 0045:

      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, […].

11. (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.

12. (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.

13. (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.

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.

look

1. Pay attention.

   Look, I'm going to explain what to do, so you have to listen closely.

Synonyms: see, so, well, hey

look (plural looks)

1. The action of looking; an attempt to see.

   Let’s have a look under the hood of the car.

2. (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, London: Methuen, OCLC 12026604; republished New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1919, OCLC 491297620:

     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, […]

3. A facial expression.

   He gave me a dirty look.

   If looks could kill ...

• kolo, kool

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.

• IPA^(key): /loːk/

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• Rhymes: -oːk
• Hyphenation: look

look n or m (uncountable)

1. garlic
2. several related herbs, like chive, garlic, shallot and leek

• bieslook (“chives”)
• berglook (“keeled garlic”)
• daslook (“ramsons”)
• eslook (“shallot”)
• knoflook (“garlic”)
• kraailook (“crow garlic”)
• moeslook (“field garlic”)

See the etymology of the main entry.

• IPA^(key): /loːk/

• Audio

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• Rhymes: -oːk
• Hyphenation: look

look

1. singular past indicative of luiken

Borrowed from English look.

• IPA^(key): /luk/

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• Rhymes: -uk
• Hyphenation: look

look m (plural looks)

1. appearance, clothing style, look

• kool

Borrowed from English look.

• IPA^(key): /luk/

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look m (plural looks)

1. 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.

• relooker
• relooking

Borrowed from English look.

look m (plural looks)

1. (informal) Look; style, appearance

• “look” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

IPA^(key): /loˈʔok/

look

1. bay