look out

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

1. (intransitive) To look from within to the outside.

   Look out, and you will see the rain has stopped.

2. (intransitive, idiomatic) Be vigilant and aware.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ and if you don't look out there's likely to be some nice, lively dog taking an interest in your underpinning.”

   While you're in the city center, look out for the dodgy street vendors.

3. (transitive) To find by looking: to hunt out.
   • 1913, D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin 2006, page 14:

     Then she straightened the kitchen, lit the lamp, mended the fire, looked out the washing for the next day, and put it to soak.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 58

     I had not seen her since long before the war, and I had to look out her address in the telephone-book.

• (be vigilant): watch out

• outlook