look
pronunciation
How to pronounce look in British English:
UK [lʊk]
How to pronounce look in American English:
US [lʊk]
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- Noun:
- the expression on a person's face
- the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually
- physical appearance
- the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the effect that it has on people
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- Verb:
- perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
- give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
- have a certain outward or facial expression
- search or seek
- be oriented in a certain direction, often with respect to another reference point; be opposite to
- take charge of or deal with
- convey by one's expression
- look forward to the probable occurrence of
- accord in appearance with
- have faith or confidence in
Word Origin
- look
- look: [OE] For such a common word, look is surprisingly isolated. It goes back to prehistoric West Germanic *lōkōjan, which has no other descendants in the modern Germanic languages, and its only distant relative is the German verb lugen ‘show, be visible’.
- look (v.)
- Old English locian "use the eyes for seeing, gaze, look, behold, spy," from West Germanic *lokjan (cognates: Old Saxon lokon "see, look, spy," Middle Dutch loeken "to look," Old High German luogen, German dialectal lugen "to look out"), of unknown origin, perhaps cognate with Breton lagud "eye." In Old English, usually with on; the use of at began 14c. Meaning "seek, search out" is c. 1300; meaning "to have a certain appearance" is from c. 1400. Of objects, "to face in a certain direction," late 14c. Look after "take care of" is from late 14c., earlier "to seek" (c. 1300), "to look toward" (c. 1200). Look into "investigate" is from 1580s; look up "research in books or papers" is from 1690s. To look down upon in the figurative sense is from 1711; to look down one's nose is from 1921. To look forward "anticipate" is c. 1600; meaning "anticipate with pleasure" is mid-19c. To not look back "make no pauses" is colloquial, first attested 1893. In look sharp (1711) sharp originally was an adverb, "sharply."
- look (n.)
- c. 1200, "act or action of looking," from look (v.). Meaning "appearance of a person" is from late 14c. Expression if looks could kill ... attested by 1827 (if looks could bite is attested from 1747).
Example
- 1. You look very sick today .
- 2. How nervous do they look ?
- 3. The flowers look very nice .
- 4. I cannot bear to look back .
- 5. What will your web site look like ?