Look v.

Forms: 1 lócian, 2 lokien, (locan), (3 lokin, loky), 3–4 loc, lok(en, locken, 3–6 loke, (4 loki), 4–5 north. luk, 4–8 luke, (5 lokyn), 5–6 Sc. lowke, 5–7 looke, 6 arch. looken, Sc. louk, leuk, luck, luik, luick, lwik, 5– look. [OE. lócian = OS. lôcon (in a gloss):—OTeut. type *lôkôjan; a form *lôgǣjan, app. of identical meaning, appears in OHG. luogên (MHG. luogen, mod.G. dial. lugen, M.Du. loeken) to see, look, spy.

  Brugmann (Grundriss, I. 384) suggests that the type *lôkô- may represent OTeut. lôkkô-:—pre-Teut. *lāghnā- or lōghnā, from the root *lāgh- or *lōgh- (Teut. *lôg-) represented by the Ger. vb.]

  I.  To direct one’s sight.

  1.  intr. To give a certain direction to one’s sight; to apply one’s power of vision; to direct one’s eyes upon some object or towards some portion of space. a. with phrase or adv. expressing the direction or the intended object of vision. (See also branches IV and V.)

  The usual prep. introducing the object of vision is now at; the older to look on, to look upon, are in the literal sense either arch., or include a mixture of the notion of mental watching or contemplation.

a. 1000.  Boeth. Metr., xxii. 20. Efne swa sweotole swa he on ða sunnan mæʓ … on locian.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Mark vi. 41. He on heofon locode & hi bletsode.

c. 1200.  Vices & Virtues (1888), 47. Ac me þincþ ðat tu lokest aweiward.

a. 1225.  St. Marher., 2. Alle hire luueden þat hire on lokeden.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. VIII. 123. ‘Lewede lorel!’ quod he ‘luite lokestou on þe Bible.’

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 143. Lokynge in þe first myrour.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 8658. Achilles … Woundit hym [sc. Ector] wickedly, as he away loked.

c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 393. Þe childe loked here and þare.

c. 1475.  Babees Bk., 65. And yf they speke withe yow … Withe stable Eye loke vpone theym Rihte.

1598.  trans. Aristotle’s Pol., 379. Wee forbid them also to looke on leud pictures, or dishonest fables.

1611.  Bible, Acts iii. 4. And Peter fastening his eyes vpon him, with Iohn, said, Looke on vs. [But looke at (fig.) in 2 Cor. iv. 18: see 3 a.]

a. 1626.  Bacon, New Atl. (1900), 3. But the Servant tooke them not, nor would scarce looke upon them.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 212. Her finnes so little that they are like the Dodoes wings, more to looke at, then for execution.

1688.  Boyle, Final Causes Nat. Things, ii. 61. The camelion may look directly forward with the right eye, and with the other at the same time, directly backwards.

1773.  Life N. Frowde, 32. Before she could well look upon me, I addressed her.

1797.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, i. They walked quickly, looking neither to the right nor left.

1830.  Tennyson, Mariana, 15. She could not look on the sweet heaven, Either at morn or eventide. Ibid. (1842), Locksley Hall, 72. Such a one do I remember, whom to look at was to love.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xi. 72. We went out to look at the firmament.

1872.  Geo. Eliot, Middlem., I. 205. Every nerve and muscle in Rosamond was adjusted to the consciousness that she was being looked at.

1895.  Pall Mall Mag., Nov., 393. Such a look as schoolboys exchange when the master is looking another way.

  ¶ Phrases. (Fair, etc.) to look at, † on, † upon: with respect to appearance. To look at him (me, it, etc.): colloq. = judging from his (my, etc.) appearance. Not to look at († on, upon); often emphatically for ‘not to touch, taste, meddle with’; so cannot look at (colloq.) = ‘has no chance against.’

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 23228. Fell dragons and tades bath þat ar apon to lok ful lath.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 1554. Large on to loke, louely of shap.

1526.  Skelton, Magnyf., 2208. What wylte thou skelpe me? thou dare not loke on a gnat.

1535.  Coverdale, Zech. v. 6. Euen thus are they (y^t dwell vpon the whole earth) to loke vpon.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xii. 11. I know that thou art a faire woman to looke vpon.

1846.  Bentley’s Misc., XX. 433. No one would think me more than five or six-and-thirty, to look at me.

1859.  Tennyson, Enid, 1515. If he rise no more, I will not look at wine until I die.

1895.  Daily News, 26 Aug., 7/1. When he [a bowler] went on for the second time the batsmen … ‘could not look at him.’

  b.  with the direction or object left indeterminate, or merely implied by the context. Sometimes said of the eye. † In early use also: To possess or receive the faculty of vision (Gr. βλέπειν, ἀναβλέπειν). † To live and look: to retain one’s faculties.

971.  Blickl. Hom., 173. And blinde men mid his bedum [Petrus] ʓehælde þat hie locodan.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 181. Eien lokeð, and eare lusteð.

c. 1275.  Passion our Lord, 54, in O. E. Misc., 39. Þe blynde he makede loki.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1338. Cherubin, þat angel blyth, Bad him ga lok þe thrid syth.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. IX. 49. But ȝif I may liuen and loken I schal go lerne betere.

1390.  Gower, Conf., I. 54. For ofte … Betre is to winke than to loke.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, VI. 468. The kingis palȝone … couth weyll luk and wynk, with the ta E.

c. 1550.  R. Bieston, Bayte Fortune, B ij. Looke therfore ere thou leape.

1667.  Milton, P. L., X. 993. But if thou judge it hard and difficult, Conversing, looking, loving, to abstain From Loves due Rites.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 334. He looks, and languishes, and leaves his Rest.

1709.  Berkeley, Th. Vision, § 7. When we look only with one eye.

1875.  E. White, Life in Christ, IV. xxv. (1876), 422. The eye looks, but it is the mind that sees.

1896.  Law Times Rep., LXXIII. 616/1. If he had looked he must have seen the light of the approaching train.

1901.  ‘Ian Maclaren,’ Yng. Barbarians, vii. 141. At the most critical moment he was afraid to look.

  c.  To direct one’s eyes in a manner indicative of a certain feeling; to cast a look of a certain significance; to present a specified expression of countenance. With adv. or phrase.

  Now only with the object or direction specified as in a; otherwise this sense now merges in 9.

c. 1205.  Lay., 2266. He stod bi-foren Locrine & laðelich him lokede on.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 5348. Vre louerd mid is eyen of milce on þe lokeþ þeruore.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 164. On ous he lokyde with loue.

1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, E viij b. He euer loked on her of a wantoun and fals regard.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lviii. 9. Bot, Lord! how petewuslie I luke, Quhen all the pelfe they pairt amang thame.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Rich. III., 53 b. Least that it might be suspected that he was abasshed for feare of his enemyes, and for that cause looked so piteously.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xl. 7. Wherefore looke ye so sadly to day?

1642.  R. Carpenter, Experience, II. i. 133. The man look’d bloodily when he spoke it.

1842.  Tennyson, Talking Oak, 116. I look’d at him with joy. Ibid. (1859), Enid, 1279. He turn’d and look’d as keenly at her As careful robins eye the delver’s toil.

  d.  occas. To give a look of surprise, to stare. Now colloq.

1610.  B. Jonson, Alchemist, V. ii. Doctor ’tis true (you looke) for all your Figures. I sent for him, indeed.

Mod.  Yes, you may look!

  e.  quasi-trans. in such phrases as to look (a person or thing) in the face: see FACE sb. 2 b. To look a gift horse in the mouth: see HORSE sb. 20.

  The object in sentences of this kind was prob. originally in the dative: cf. G. einem ins gesicht schen.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xix. (Cristofore), 28. He sa mekil, sa hee and auchful vas, þat few du[r]ste luk hyme in þe face.

a. 1625.  Fletcher, Hum. Lieutenant, IV. i. I’ll neuer look a horse i’ th’ mouth that’s giuen.

a. 1716.  South, Serm. (1823), VI. 330. The soldier … converses with dangers, and looks death in the face.

1737.  Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 184. Many who, altho’ they have pretended knowledge in Horses, have been looked in the Mouth (as we say).

a. 1850.  Rossetti, Dante & Circle, I. (1874), 141. This lady … Look’d thee so deep within the eyes, Love sigh’d And was awakened there.

1880.  G. Meredith, Trag. Com., xiii. (1892), 194. She … looks you straight at the eyes, perfectly unabashed.

1891.  Harry How, in Strand Mag., II. 530/2. An eye that looks one through and through.

1892.  R. Kipling, Ball. East & West, 83. They have looked each other between the eyes, and there they found no fault.

1896.  A. E. Housman, Shropshire Lad, xlii. With … friendly brows and laughter He looked me in the eyes.

  f.  with cogn. obj.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., V. ii. 112. Eyes, looke your last.

1599.  Shaks., etc., Pass. Pilgr., 46. Such lookes as none could looke but beauties queen.

1643.  Trapp, Comm. Gen. xlii. 29. And they came to Jacob, who had looked many a long look for them, no doubt.

1781.  Cowper, Hope, 726. A transport glows in all he looks and speaks.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., xlix. And look thy look, and go thy way.

1896.  A. E. Housman, Shropshire Lad, viii. Terence, look your last at me, For I come home no more.

  g.  trans. With complement or prep.: To bring by one’s looks into a certain place or condition. Now rare. (Cf. look down, 33 e.)

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., V. v. 94. Thou hast look’d thy selfe into my grace.

1624.  Massinger, Renegado, III. ii. Thrust out these fiery eies, that yesterday Would haue lookde thee dead.

1633.  G. Herbert, Temple, Glance, iii. Thou shalt look us out of pain.

1694.  Dryden, Love Triumph., IV. i. While you stay,… every moment looks a part of me away. Ibid. (1700), Secular Masque, 51. Mars has looked the sky to red.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., v. They had early learnt the lesson of looking presumption out of countenance.

1776.  Hist. Eur., in Ann. Reg., 58/1. That armed force which was to have looked all America into submission.

1860.  Trollope, Castle Richmond, I. xii. 234. I really thought Mrs. Townsend would have looked him into the river when he came to her.

  h.  To express by a look or glance, or by one’s countenance; to cast looks of (compassion, etc.) or looks that threaten (death, etc.). To look daggers: see DAGGER 3 b.

1727.  Thomson, Summer, 845 [1188]. They … sigh’d, and look’d unutterable Things.

1742.  Young, Nt. Th., iv. 635. With that soft eye … deign to look Compassion to the coldness of my breast.

1750.  Chesterf., Lett. (1774), III. 127. The same things differently expressed, looked, and delivered, cease to be the same things.

1818.  Byron, Juan, I. xv. Some women use their tongues—she look’d a lecture, Each eye a sermon, and her brow a homily.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., vi. The old lady … looked carving-knives at the … delinquent.

1837.  Thackeray, Ravenswing, i. The Captain, looking several tremendous canings at him, walked into the back room.

1867.  Gd. Words, 335/2. I was obliged to be contented with looking my pleasure.

  2.  With indirect question expressed or contextually implied: To apply one’s sight to ascertain (who, what, how, whether, etc.). Now only used when the question is regarded as capable of being answered at a single glance.

[c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Mark vi. 38. Ða cwæð he hu fela hlafa hæbbe ʓe gað & lociað.]

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 41. Heo tweien eoden … in to helle … for to lokien hu hit þer ferde.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 121. Ure drihten … beih of heuene to mannen and lokede gif here ani understoden oðer bisohten him.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 2600. Ghe adde or hire dowter sent, To loken quider it sulde ben went.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 315. Brut sende vp þere Þre hondred men iarmed wel, to loke ȝwat lond þat were.

c. 1425.  Crafte Nombryng (E.E.T.S.), 30. Multiply þat digit by anoþer diget,… and loke qwat comes þere-of.

a. 1584.  Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 463. Luik quhair to licht before thou loup.

1588.  A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., in Cath. Tractates (1901), 205. Lowke quhat day of the age of the moone it is.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 19. Scarse could he once uphold his heavie hedd, To looken whether it were night or day.

1710.  Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 30 Nov. O, but one may look whether one goes crooked or no and so write on.

1819.  Crabbe, T. of Hall, X. I loved my trees in order to dispose, I number’d peaches, look’d how stocks arose.

1848.  J. H. Newman, Loss & Gain, III. iii. 318. He glanced from one article to another, looking who were the University-preachers of the week, who had taken degrees [etc.].

Mod.  I will look what time the train starts.

  † b.  Phr. Look else: see whether it be not so. (See ELSE 4 c.) Obs.

1622.  Massinger, Virg. Mart., II. i. I kicke for all that like a horse, looke else.

  c.  Go look: = ‘find it out’; a contemptuous manner of refusing information. Now dial.

1595.  Lyly, Woman in Moon, V. i. 86 (Bond). If you aske me why I sing, I say yee may go looke.

  3.  fig. a. ‘To direct the intellectual eye’ (J.); to turn or fix one’s attention or regard. With advs. or phrases as in 1 a. (See also branches IV and V.) Now usually const. at; formerly on or upon.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 37 b. Let the kyngdome of the assiriens be your example, and if that suffise not, then loke on the Percians.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 37 b. Lokyng more narrowly upon domestical evils.

1562.  Winȝet, Cert. Tractates, i. Wks. 1888, I. 12. Thay … luckis bakwart with the Israelitis to the potis of flesche in Egypt.

1570.  Satir. Poems Reform., xiii. 10. He man luke lawer, and enter in the Spreit, And than he sall persaif the cause fra hand.

1583.  Golding, Calvin on Deut., xxi. 124. Looke me vpon the Turkes: they haue some reuerence to their religion.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., IV. iv. 37 (1604 Qo.). He that made vs with such large discourse, Looking before and after.

1611.  Bible, 2 Cor. iv. 18. While we looke not at the things which are seene, but at y^e things which are not seene.

a. 1625.  Beaum. & Fl., Bonduca, II. iv. Ods so infinite Discretion durst not look upon.

1676.  Stillingfl., Def. conc. Idol., II. ii. 491 (J.). We are not only to look at the bare action, but at the reason and ground of it.

1824.  Bentham, Bk. Fallacies, Wks. 1843, II. 455. Instead of reforming others … let him look at home.

1845.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 2. Because ideas change, the whole mode and manner of looking at things varies with every age.

1861.  Dickens, Gt. Expect., lv. What I look at, is the sacrifice of so much portable property.

1885.  F. Anstey, Tinted Venus, 70. ‘That’s the proper way to look at it,’ said he.

1885.  Sir N. Lindley, in Law Rep. 30 Ch. Div. 14. The case of Stokes v. Trumper is not really in point when we come to look at it closely.

1890.  Mrs. H. Wood, House of Halliwell, I. vii. 175. I marry a medical student!… I look a little higher than that. Ibid., III. viii. 207. Your friends will look at position as well as gentle blood.

  b.  To take care, make sure, see (that or how something is done; also with omission of that). Now arch.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., lix. 451. Lociað nu ðæt ðios eowru leaf ne weorðe oðrum monnum to biswice.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1966. Fixs and flesse, o bath i sai, Lok ai þe blod ȝee cast a wai. Ibid. (a. 1300), 16814 + 15. Pilat … bad þat þai suld loke þat he wore ded for-thy.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 38. Seynt petyr comaundiþ ȝif ony speke, loke he speke as goddis wordis.

c. 1440.  Anc. Cookery, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 434. Loke hit be stondynge.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, I. xvi. 60. Loke eueryche of yow kynges lete make suche ordinaunce.

1561.  T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, III. (1577), O viij. And you (my L. Margaret) looke yee beare it well awaye.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., IV. iii. 8. Dismisse your Attendant there: look’t be done.

1621–31.  Laud, Serm. (1847), 133. The State must look their proceedings be just, and the Church must look their devotions and actions be pious.

1646.  J. Hall, Horæ Vac., 22. We ought to looke how wee spend our houres here.

1690.  E. Gee, Jesuit’s Mem., 89. Censor to look that no man lived idly.

1819.  Shelley, Cyclops, 477. When I call, Look ye obey the masters of the craft.

1865.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., Ser. II. I. II. 242. We must look, therefore, that we have the … wide chest, straight back, &c.

1871.  R. Ellis, trans. Catullus, lxiv. 231. Look that warily then deep-laid in steady remembrance These our words grow greenly.

  c.  To expect. Const. to with inf. † Formerly also with clause, usually introduced by that. † Also, to expect, await the time when something shall happen; to be curious to see how, whether, etc.; also impers. in passive.

c. 1513.  More, Rich. III. (ed. Lumby), 7. Whose life hee looked that euil dyete shoulde shorten. Ibid., 11. In these last wordes that euer I looke to speake with you.

1535.  Coverdale, Isa. v. 4. When he loked y^t it shulde bringe him grapes, it brought forth thornes.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 112. Lokyng every day when his Barons and their confederates would cruelly set upon him.

c. 1586.  C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LXIX. viii. Some I lookt would me uphold.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., I. iii. 243. Alas, I look’d when some of you should say, I was too strict to make mine owne away.

1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. xi. 156. The wind being contrary and stormy, they looked all to perish.

1605.  Camden, Rem. (1637), 271. Then it was looked how he should justifie that fact.

1611.  Heywood, Gold. Age, I. i. Wks. 1874, III. 10. I neuer heard she was committed to prison; yet t’is look’t euery houre when she shall be deliuered.

a. 1626.  Bacon, New Atl. (1900), 9. Wee … saluted him in a very lowly and submissive manner; As looking that from him, wee should receyve Sentence of Life, or Death.

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., III. xlii. 271. By whom we look to be protected.

1657.  Austen, Fruit Trees, II. 164. God lookes every one should be fruit-full under all his dispensations.

1760–72.  H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), IV. 141. I never look to have a mistress that I shall love half as well.

1830.  Southey, Lett. (1856), IV. 168. I too had been looking to hear from you.

1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., vii. I’m glad mas’r didn’t go off this morning, as he looked to.

1893.  Field, 11 March, 362/3. The … labourer … looks to go to work at a fixed hour.

1896.  A. E. Housman, Shropshire Lad, xxvi. Two lovers looking to be wed.

  † d.  with indirect question: To consider, ascertain (who, when, whether, etc.); to try (if something can be done, etc.). Also simply, to consider the matter, make inquiry; esp. in phr. whoso will look, etc. Obs.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, VIII. 419. The king can furth his vais ta,… for till luk gif he Micht recouer his cuntre.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xl. (Ninian), 93. He vmthocht he wald luke Gyf he in sic corne cuth set huke.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 319. But diversite is greet here and þere, whoso wole loke.

1399.  Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 255. That ich leode lokide what longid to his age.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 51. Þou muste loke wheþer þat þe bodi be ful of wickide humouris, eiþer be clene.

c. 1450.  Merlin, 9. Than made he hir suster come on a saterday,… to loke yef he might gete hir in that manere.

1573.  Satir. Poems Reform., xlii. 403. Schir, luk ȝe and se Gif that the teindis of this countrie May not do all that we have tauld.

c. 1585.  R. Browne, Answ. Cartwright, 50. If he looke well, this proofe serueth against him.

1692.  Locke, 3rd Let. Toleration, ix. Wks. 1727, II. 394. Whether … your pretending Gain to them,… be a greater Mockery, you were best look.

  4.  Idiomatic uses of the imperative.

  a.  Used to bespeak attention: = ‘see,’ ‘behold,’ ‘lo.’ In mod. colloq. use often look you (in representations of vulgar speech written look’ee) = ‘mind this’; also look here, a brusque mode of address prefacing an order, expostulation, reprimand, etc.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gram., xxxviii. (Z.), 231. En efne oððe loca nu, her hit is.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 3331. Quod moyses, ‘loc! her nu is bread.’

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst. xxx. 141. Here is a bag full, lokys, of pride and of lust.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, Exclamatioun 18. Lo, heir he failȝeis, se thar he leis, luik!

1575.  Gascoigne, Glasse Govt., IV. i. Poems 1870, II. 59. I would be glad to talke with Maister Gnomaticus … and looke where he commeth in haste.

1594.  Marlowe & Nashe, Dido, 372, N.’s Wks. (Grosart), VI. 22. Looke where she comes: Æneas, view her well.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. ii. 116 (1600 Qo.). Looke you how he writes. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., III. iii. 116. Heauy matters, heauy matters: but looke thee heere boy.

1672.  Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.), Rehearsal, I. i. (Arb.), 33. For, look you, Sir, the grand design … is to keep the Auditors in suspence.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 34, ¶ 4. Look ye, said I, I must not rashly give my Judgment. Ibid. (1710), No. 206, ¶ 2. Look’ee, Jack, I have heard thee sometimes talk like an Oracle.

1782.  Cowper, Retirement, 283. Look where he comes.

a. 1814.  Woman’s Will, IV. ii. in New Brit. Theatre, IV. 111. Lookee there now! You can soon create a cause for quarrel, my Lady.

1843.  Longf., Sp. Student, II. vi. Look, here he comes.

1861.  Dickens, Gt. Expect., li. Now, look here, my man … I’ll have no feelings here. Ibid. (1865), Mut. Fr., II. xiv. ‘Now, lookee here, my dear,’ returned old Betty,—‘asking your excuse for being so familiar.’

1875.  Tennyson, Q. Mary, II. i. Look you, Master Wyatt, Tear up that woman’s work there.

  † b.  Prefixed to interrogative pronoun or adv., or relative conj., forming indefinite relatives = whoever, whatever, however, etc. Also, in later use, emphasizing the correspondence of relative and antecedent, as in look as = ‘just as.’ Obs.

  The absence of examples between the 12th and the 16th c. is remarkable: the idiom was prob. preserved in some non-literary dialect.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. xvi. 6. Þrea hiʓ, loca hu þu wylle. Ibid., Josh. ii. 19. And loca hwa ut gange, licge he ofslaʓen.

a. 1123.  O. E. Chron., an. 1101 (Laud MS.). Loc hweðer þæra ʓebroðra oðerne oferbide, wære yrfeweard ealles Englalandes.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. i. 3. His leeues shal not fall off, and loke what soeuer he doth, it shal prospere. Ibid., Ecclus. i. 13. The loue of God is honorable wiszdome: loke vnto whom it appeareth, they loue it.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., I. 94. And looke what he commaunded, that was done, though some did murmure.

1597.  J. T., Serm. Paules C., 56. But looke as thou sinnest, so shalt thou haue the wages of sinne.

a. 1600.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., VII. vi. § 9. He added farther, that look what duty the Roman Consuls did execute … the like charge had the Bishop.

c. 1600.  Shaks., Sonn., xxxvii. 13. Looke what is best, that best I wish in thee.

1611.  Bible, 1 Macc. iv. 54. Looke at what time, and what day the heathen had prophaned it, euen in that was it dedicated with songs, and cittherns, and harpes, and cimbals.

1615.  W. Lawson, Country Housew. Gard. (1626), 23. And looke how farre a tree spreads his boughs aboue, so far doth he put his roots vnder the earth.

1625.  Burges, Pers. Tithes, 31. And looke what the Lawes … enioyne, that thou must doe, or be a Rebell.

1675.  Brooks, Gold. Key, 321. Look, as God cannot but be just, so he cannot but be true. Ibid., 301, 302.

  5.  Look sharp. Originally (with sharp as adv.) = ‘to look sharply after something,’ ‘to keep strict watch.’ In later use (which is merely colloquial) the sense is commonly ‘to bestir oneself briskly,’ ‘to lose no time’ (the vb. being app. taken in a sense belonging to branch III, and sharp regarded as a complementary adj.).

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 132, ¶ 1. The Captain … ordered his Man to look sharp, that none but one of the Ladies should have the Place he had taken fronting the Coachbox.

1713.  R. Bentley, Remarks Late Disc. Free-th., II. Wks. 1838, III. 472. It is time for us then to look sharp, to observe every period.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., vi. § 1. I must, therefore, look sharp, and well consider every step I take.

1788.  Ld. Auckland, Corr. (1861), II. 69. At nine o’clock we began to look sharp for our house.

1803.  in Spirit Pub. Jrnls., VII. 128. Mr. Robson will attend to the old peers … while Mr. Faulder will look sharp after the fortune-hunters.

1818.  Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 91. I see that the Ministers are very shy of dissolving the Parliament; and they shall look sharp if they act before I am ready for them.

1834.  Landor, Exam. Shaks., Wks. 1853, II. 285/2. But let her look sharp, or spectacles may be thrust upon her nose that shall make her eyes water.

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, xxxix. Kit … ordered … him to bring three dozen … oysters, and to look sharp about it!

1846–9.  S. R. Maitland, Ess., etc. 258. Would he not be startled if one told him that he would have to look sharp for five-and-twenty [martyrs]?

1874.  Punch, 8 Aug., 64. Glass of ale, young woman; and look sharp, please!

1890.  Fenn, Double Knot, I. viii. 191. You’d better look sharp,… they’re all ready and waiting.

  6.  Transitive uses, chiefly synonymous with various intransitive uses with prepositions.

  a.  To look at, behold; to view, inspect, examine. Now dial. † To look babies: to gaze at the reflection of one’s face in another’s eyes.

13[?].  Coer de L., 3030. Rychard bad his men seche For some wys clerk and sertayn leche,… For to loke his uryn.

1382.  Wyclif, Num. xxiv. 17. I shal inwardly loke hym [Vulg. intuebor illum] but not nyȝ.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 7525. Leches full lyuely lokid his wound.

1471.  J. Paston, in P. Lett., III. 7. That no body look my wryghtynges.

1509.  Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1570), 113. When he a while his glasse hath loken.

1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 40. Than let the shepeherde turne them, and loke them on euery syde.

a. 1578.  Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), II. 158. He mowit wpe to the hill heid of Tarbitt … to awew and luik the congregatioun.

1607.  Beaum. & Fl., Woman Hater, III. i. I cannot thinke, I shall become a coxcombe, To ha’ my hare curl’d, by an idle finger,… Mine eyes lookt babies in.

1615.  Brathwait, Strappado, 80. Or when none that’s iealous spies To looke babbies in his eye.

1647.  Trapp, Comm. Ep. & Rev., App. 669. Many Heathens have advised the angry man to look his face in a glasse, and to grow ashamed of his distemper.

1655.  New Haven Col. Rec. (1858), II. 151. Robert Cranfeild … testifyed … that he went to looke oxen.

1721.  Ramsay, Morning Interview, 34. He frown’d, and look’d his watch.

1874.  W. H. L. Ranken, Domin. Australia, vi. 105. Plains are scoured and every piece of timber looked.

1882.  Jas. Walker, Jaunt to Auld Reekie, etc. 10. He looks his hand: behold the sooty meal The secret tells.

1897.  Crockett, Lads’ Love, xi. 115. I was engaged in ‘looking the sheep’—that is, numbering them and seeing that none had strayed.

  † b.  To look into, examine; to consider, have regard to, regard. Obs.

c. 1300.  Beket, 284. The King from Normandie com To Engelond to Look the stat of his Kynedom.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 205. He that right ordir of lyfyng wil luke Suld bygyn thus, als says the boke.

c. 1375.  Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.), 271. When þou prayes, god lokes þi wille.

a. 1400.  Prymer (1891), 45. For he lokede the mekenesse of his handmayde.

1430–40.  Lydg., Bochas, IX. xxxiii. (1558), 34. The matter who so list to loke.

1533.  Gau, Richt Vay, 19. God lukis notht the wtuert richtfulnes quilk mony keipis.

c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S. T. S.), xxxiv. 1. Ȝe blindit luvaris, luke The rekless lyre ȝe leid.

  † c.  To consult or refer to (an author, a book, or a place in it); to ‘turn up.’ In the imper. = VIDE. Also, to search for (a word etc.) in a book of reference. (Cf. look up, 45 g.) Obs.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 9334. Þat yow tels sent Ieremi, If yee wald lok his propheci.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Pard. T., 250. Looketh the Bible, and ther ye may it leere.

a. 1420.  Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 3099. As þe boke can expresse: Whoso it lokith, fynde it shal no lesse.

1529.  Rastell, Pastyme, Hist. French (1811), 69. Therfor loke Julius Cesar his comentaryes.

1596.  Harington, Metam. Ajax, 60. Looke it sirra there in the dictionarie.

1598.  Florio, Aria, looke Aere.

1599.  Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, 58. For his ensainting, looke the Almanack in the beginning of Aprill.

1611.  Cotgr., Anonexie, Looke Anorexie.

1611.  Bible, 1 Macc. xii. 7, marg. Areus: looke Ioseph. Ant. lib. 13. cap. 8.

1640.  Fuller, Joseph’s Coat, etc. 125, marg. Look Lord Bacon in his life.

1656.  H. Phillips, Purch. Patt. (1676), 157. Take the compass of the tree … look this compass in the Table.

1813.  J. Adams, Wks. (1856), X. 49. I found that if I looked a word to-day, in less than a week I had to look it again.

  † d.  To seek, search for; = look for (15 b). Also, to be on the look-out for, seek or search out. Obs.

c. 1394.  P. Pl. Crede, 593. Now mot a frere … loken hem lesynges þat likeþ þe puple.

c. 1470.  Henryson, Mor. Fab., I. (Cock & Jasp), v. I had leuer ga scrapit heir with my naillis … and luik my lyfis fude.

1595.  Munday, John a Kent (Shaks. Soc.), 22. Moorton shall looke him now an other bryde.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., II. v. 30. He hath bin all this day to looke you.

1622.  Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 152. You neuer left any Crownes nor Royals with me: Goe looke your Crownes and Royals else-where.

1650.  T. Vaughan, Anima Magica, To Rdr. He knew it was bootles to look fatal Events in the Planets.

1664.  Pepys, Diary, 3 Sept. In the morning she chid her mayds for not looking the fleas a-days.

1668.  Dryden, All for Love, IV. i. Octavia, I was looking you, my love.

1683.  Tryon, Way to Health, xix. (1697), 417. Or else the poor Lass after the Wedding-Cloathes are made, must go look her an Husband.

1716.  B. Church, Hist. Philip’s War (1865), I. 162. He went with his new Souldier to look his Father.

1752.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 138, ¶ 11. At her leisure hours she looks goose eggs.

1782.  Miss Burney, Cecilia, VII. v. I’ll go look him [a dog], however, for we went at such a rate that I never missed him.

1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 88. Pinders, that such chances look, Drive his rambling cows to pound.

  † e.  To take care of, keep, guard, watch over, preserve in safety; to observe (a day). Also refl. To guard oneself, beware; to abstain (from). Also absol. or intr.: To watch. Obs.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 45. We aȝen þene sunne dei swiþeliche wel to wurþien and on alle clenesse to locan.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 3193. He dede is binden & faire loken Alle ðe bones ðe he ðor token. Ibid., 3511. Loke ðe wel ðat ðu ne stele.

a. 1300.  K. Horn, 800. Rymenhild þu kep and loke.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 8297. ‘Godd þe loke,’ he said, ‘sir king.’

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 129. Þat othe sald he wele loke.

1340.  Ayenb., 42. Þet hi ham loki uram þise zenne. Ibid., 235. Þe prestes þet lokeden chastete ine þe temple weren todeld uram þe oþren þet hi ne loren hire chastete.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst. xiii. 219. God looke you all thre!

  † f.  To provide, appoint, ordain, decree, decide. Obs.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 73. Þer fore hit wes iloked bi godes wissunge ine halie chirche þet mon scule childre fulhten.

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 1206. As his ahne goddlec lahede hit ant lokede.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 1230. Þe kyng he sende word aȝen, þat he adde is franchise In is owe court, vorto loke domes & assise.

c. 1305.  St. Kenelm, 301, in E. E. P. (1862), 55. Þe bischop hadde iloked þat hit scholde þider beo ibore.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 36. Þe right lawes did he loke for fals men & fikelle.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 3404 (Ashm. MS.). Syn it lokid [Dublin MS. lukkyd] has þe largenes of þe lord of heuen.

c. 1460.  Launfal, 783. I am a redy for to tho All that the court wyll loke.

  † g.  To expect, look forward to, look for. Obs.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 311. What ende at the length doe you loke of this obstinacy and vnloyaultie.

a. 1572.  Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 4. We crave of all the gentill Readaris, not to look of us such ane History.

c. 1586.  C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CXIX. K. i. What I look’t from thee … I now enjoy.

1595.  Daniel, Civ. Wars, II. viii. His fortune gives him more than he could looke.

1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 369. The gifts she lookes from me, are packt and lockt Vp in my heart.

  II.  To have an outlook, face a certain way.

  7.  intr. To have or afford a certain outlook; to face, front, or be turned towards, into, on to, etc.

1555.  Coverdale, Jer. i. 13. I do se a seethinge pot, looking from out of the north hitherwarde.

a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, III. (1633), 304. Each of these chambers had a little window to look into the hall.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., IX. 193. That parte of the Castel that luikis to Tued.

1611.  Bible, Num. xxi. 20. Pisgah, which looketh toward Ieshimon.

1668.  Dryden, All for Love, II. i. Unbar the Gate that looks to Cæsar’s Camp.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., iii. § 1. A summer parlour which looks into the garden.

1866.  M. Arnold, Thyrsis, ii. The signal-elm that looks on Ilsley Downs.

1886.  Beatrice M. Butt, Lesterre Durant, I. v. 61. The windows looking north.

1893.  Harry How, in Strand Mag., VI. 268/2. The dining-room looks on to the Melbury Road.

  b.  Of parts of the body, or the like: To face or turn (in a particular direction).

1656.  Ridgley, Pract. Physic, 243. The Knee and Foot look inwards.

1692.  Sir W. Hope, Fencing-Master (ed. 2), 17. The points of your Fingers must not look upwards, but pointing towards your Adversary.

1776–96.  Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), I. 388. Bearing the flowers underneath, the florets looking downwards.

1863.  Huxley, Man’s Place Nat., i. 23. Their nostrils have a narrow partition, and look downwards.

  8.  To show a tendency; to tend, point (in a particular direction).

1647.  Power of Kings, iv. 84. The context looketh wholly that way.

1674.  N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 188. The Argument drawn from Gods unbounded power and goodness, as looking towards the behoof of the Creature will ever fall short upon this score.

1692.  R. L’Estrange, Josephus’ Antiq., II. ix. (1733), 44. The Barbarity of this bloody Decree look’d several ways.

1703.  Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1732), 42. Its sense seems to look that way.

c. 1800.  K. White, Lett. (1837), 328. He thinks it looks towards epilepsy.

1869.  Goulburn, Purs. Holiness, x. 93. In this direction look the words of our Lord to St. Thomas.

1881.  P. Greg, Ivy, III. vi. 122. All the facts look the other way.

  † b.  To tend to, promise to. Obs. rare.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., III. iii. 29. He speakes What’s in his heart, and that is there which lookes With vs to breake his necke.

  III.  To have a certain appearance. [App. in part developed from 1 c; but cf. the similar use in passive sense of other verbs of perception, like smell, taste, feel.]

  9.  intr. To have the appearance of being; to seem to the sight. (This sense when used of persons often retains some mixture of the notion of 1 c.) Const. a predicative sb. or adj., or a predicative adv. (as well, ill = ‘in good, bad health’).

  For the fig. phr. to look black, blue, foolish, small, etc., see the adjs.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 8742. Ymages … Lokend full lyuely as any light angels.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, liii. 37. God waith gif that scho loukit sour!

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 266. Resolueth all the grosenesse of the oyle, and maketh it to loke clere.

1658.  Wood, Life, 5 April. He look’d elderly and was cynical and hirsute in his behavior.

1697.  Dryden, Æneid, XI. 99. All pale he lies, and looks a lovely Flow’r.

1712.  Hearne, Collect. (O. H. S.), III. 486. ’Twould have look’á vain, and ostentatious.

1715.  Pope, Iliad, III. 208. She moves a Goddess, and she looks a Queen!

1761.  Mrs. F. Sheridan, Sidney Biddulph, I. 18. He is grown fat, and looks quite robust.

1788.  Cowper, Pity for poor Africans. You speak very fine, and you look very grave.

1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T., Forester (1806), I. 65. Henry looked in great anxiety.

1857.  Ruskin, Pol. Econ. Art, i. 1. I see that some of my hearers look surprised at the expression.

1871.  M. Arnold, Friendship’s Garland, v. 36. ‘You made me look rather a fool, Arminius,’ I began.

1886.  Beatrice M. Butt, Lesterre Durant, I. xix. 304. London was certainly not looking its best.

1888.  ‘Sarah Tytler,’ Blackhall Ghosts, II. xvii. 65. Kitty did not look the lady she was not.

1897.  Windsor Mag., Jan., 274/1. No. 1 … looked such a much larger house than it was … No. 2 … was such a much larger house than it looked.

  b.  with adv. of manner († or advb. phrase): To have a certain look or appearance.

  This use is often indiscriminately condemned, but is justly censurable only where look is virtually equivalent to seem, so that it requires a predicative complement and not a qualification of manner. (So, e.g., in quot. 1645.) Owing, however, to the prejudice excited by the inaccurate use, look now rarely occurs with advs. of manner other than well, ill, badly. In some early instances the apparent adv. may possibly be an adj. in -LY¹.

a. 1300.  XV Signa, 56, in E. E. P. (1862), 9. Hi sul … lok as bestis þat cun no witte.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 189. So hungriliche [1362 A. V. 108 hungri] and holwe sire Heruy hym loked.

1542.  Boorde, Dyetary, xxxix. (1870), 300. For that wyll cause a man to loke agedly.

1546.  J. Heywood, Prov., 50. Though your pasture looke barreinly and dull.

c. 1586.  C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CV. viii. Watry Nilus lookes with bloudy face.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., III. i. 32. You looke wearily. Ibid., IV. i. 146. You doe looke (my son) in a mou’d sort. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T. III. iii. 3. The skies looke grimly.

1645.  T. Hill, Olive Branch (1648), 40. This would make you look more amiably and smell more sweetly.

1683.  Tryon, Way to Health, xix. (1697), 413. How base a thing it is, and how unnaturally it looks, that men should value Money more than the Law of God.

1712.  J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 21. Points and Corners advancing … look very ill upon the Ground.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, II. i. (1840), 7. The world looked awkwardly round me. Ibid., II. xv. 314. To see who looked with most guilt in their faces.

1781.  Cowper, Retirement, 567. Nature indeed looks prettily in rhyme.

1802.  Mrs. Jane West, Infidel Father, II. 188. Do I also look meanly in her eyes?

1826.  Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 57. Fields of Swedish turnips, all looking extremely well.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ix. II. 497. On the whole, however, things as yet looked not unfavourably for James. Ibid. (1855), xx. IV. 471. It tasked all the art of Kneller to make her look tolerably on canvass.

1891.  Sir A. Wills, in Law Times, XCI. 233/2. Things had, by that time, begun to look badly for all concerned.

  c.  Const. inf. To seem to the view. lit. and fig.

1775.  Burke, Sp. Conc. Amer., Sel. Wks. I. 192. It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic, to apply the ordinary ideas of criminal justice to this great public contest.

1793.  W. Roberts, Looker-On, No. 84 (1794), III. 345. To make a display … looks to be, with the major part, the real object which assembles them.

1890.  W. Clark Russell, Ocean Trag., I. vi. 123. A little hat that looked to be made of beaver.

1893.  Graphic, 25 March, 298/1. The Queen looked to be in good health.

  d.  To look as if (or † as) ——: to have an appearance suggesting the belief that ——. Often with indefinite subject, it looks (or things look) as if ——.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, liii. 9. He leuket as he culd lern tham a.

1611.  B. Jonson, Catiline, IV. v. Looke they, as they were built to shake the world?

a. 1700.  Dryden, Flower & Leaf, 57. I took the way, Which through a path, but scarcely printed, lay;… And looked as lightly pressed by fairy feet.

1700.  T. Brown, Amusem. Ser. & Com., 91. It looks as if Physicians learnt their Gibberish for no other purpose, than to embroil what they do not understand.

1790.  Burke, Fr. Rev. (1898), 11. It looks to me as if I were in a great crisis.

1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, V. i. ¶ 27. Pedro was dumb-founded, and looked as if he could not help it.

1867.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. App. 774. This looks as if Harold were now quartered in Denmark.

1892.  St. Nicholas Mag., XIV. 538/1. It looked as if there was going to be a free fight.

1898.  Flor. Montgomery, Tony, 9. She looked as if she were thoroughly bored.

  e.  quasi-trans. To have an appearance befitting or according with (one’s character, condition, assumed part, etc.). To look one’s age: to have the appearance of being as old as one is. To look oneself: to appear to be in one’s usual health.

1828.  Examiner, 756/1. She looked the character extremely well.

1842.  L. Hunt, Men, Women, & B. (1876), 373. Though people do not always seem what they are, it is seldom they do not look what they can do.

1852.  Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxxiv. But what’s the matter, George?… you don’t look yourself.

1879.  Miss Yonge, Cameos, Ser. IV. xvii. 187. She looked her full forty-three years.

1883.  Manch. Exam., 29 Oct., 5/3. Miss Anderson looked the part to perfection.

1891.  L. Merrick, Violet Moses, II. xii. 134. He assuredly did not look his age.

  10.  Look like. a. To have the appearance of being. (See LIKE A. 1 b ¶.)

c. 1440.  York Myst., xxx. 273. He lokis like a lambe.

1581.  Studley, Hippolytus, 67. Lyke lusty young Perithous he looketh in the face.

1628.  Earle, Microcosm., High Spirited Man (Arb.), 91. One that lookes like a proud man but is not.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., II. v. § 3. There is some thing looks very like this in the proceedings of the people of Israel against the Prophet Jeremiah.

1699.  T. Baker, Refl. Learning, 58. This Plan, as laid down by him, looks liker an Universal Art than a distinct Logic.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 50, ¶ 8. The Women look like Angels.

a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time (1724), I. 606. He had a humour in his leg, which looked like the beginning of the gout.

1773.  Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., II. (end). My dear ’squire, this looks like a lad of spirit.

1861.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 40. The payment in kind, and not in money, looks like a customary acknowledgement from an old established guild.

1884.  W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 43. She … looked like a monument planted there.

  b.  with gerund, vbl. sb., or occas. sb.: To give promise of, show a likelihood of.

1593.  Shaks., Lucr., 595. Thou look’st not like deceipt; do not deceiue me.

1747.  Gentl. Mag., XVII. 383. Parties may be abolish’d, but the late dissolution of the parliament don’t look much like it.

1883.  J. W. Sherer, At Home & in India, 158. Later on, indeed, after supper, he grew worse—looked like biting—and … tore the bouquet in pieces.

1888.  H. F. Lester, Hartas Maturin, II. ii. 34. It looks like rain.

  IV.  Specialized uses with prepositions.

  11.  Look about —. (Cf. 25.)

  a.  To turn one’s eyes to, or make searches in various parts of (a room, etc.); to go about observing in (a country, town, etc.).

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, III. 579. Men mycht se mony frely fute About the costis thar lukand.

1530.  Palsgr., 614/1. I loke aboute the contraye, je pourjecte le pais.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Rich. III., 28. [He] leapte out of his bed and loked about the chambre.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., II. iii. 255. Iago, looke with care about the Towne.

  b.  With pron. (used refl.), to look about one: to turn one’s eyes or attention to surrounding objects; to consider, or take account of, one’s position and circumstances; to be watchful or apprehensive.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xix. 87. Sum of þam … er lukand douneward to þe erthe, and will noȝt luke aboute þam.

1484.  Caxton, Fables of Æsop, V. v. Whanne the catte was vpon a tree he loked aboute hym and sawe how the dogges [etc.].

1562.  Cooper, Answ. Priv. Masse, Pref. Rdr. A man maye thinke they had good cause to startle at the matter, and somewhat to loke aboute them, leste they seemed altogether carelesse.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. ii. 141. Master, master, looke about you: Who goes there? ha.

1666–72.  Harvey, Morb. Angl., vii. 18. If upon these Signs, you find a wasting of your flesh, then look about you.

1712.  Arbuthnot, John Bull, I. xii. John began to think it high time to look about him.

1744.  Ozell, trans. Brantome’s Sp. Rhodomontades, 104. [They] had found the Enemy upon them, before they could look about ’em.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 173. At length he returned; and, without having a single week to look about him,… he was at once set to rule the state.

1891.  A. Conan Doyle, in Strand Mag., II. 482/1. He looked about him anxiously in the glare of the lamp.

  12.  Look after —.

  a.  To follow with the eye; to look in the direction of (a person departing); fig. to think regretfully of (something past). † Also, to observe the course of (a person).

971.  Blickl. Hom., 121. Þa hie þa in þone heofon locodan æfter him, & hie Drihten ʓesawon upastiʓendne.

1535.  Coverdale, Exod. xxxiii. 8. All the people rose vp,… and loked after Moses, tyll he was gone in to the Tabernacle.

1580.  Sidney, Ps. XXXVII. vii. Thou shalt see The wicked by his own pride banisht; Looke after him, he shall be vanisht.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. i. 219. Looke after him.

1858.  Bushnell, Serm. New Life, xi (1869), 153. His soul still looking covertly after the goods she has lost.

  † b.  To search for. Obs.

c. 1330.  Spec. Gy Warw., 786. Tweye manere shame men fint in boke, Who-so wole þerafter loke.

a. 1425.  Cursor M., 11086 (Trin.). Þenne loked aftir sir Zakary tables & poyntel tyte.

c. 1449.  Pecock, Repr., 77. Such that his suer treuthe is not lokid aftir neither souȝt aftir.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., III. v. 55. That man of hers, Pisanio,… I haue not seene these two dayes. Go, looke after.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 120, ¶ 1. He has caught me twice or thrice looking after a Bird’s Nest.

1727.  Boyer, Eng.-Fr. Dict., To look after (to seek) a thing, chercher quelque chose.

  † c.  To anticipate with desire or fear; to look forward to. Obs.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 181. Þere þe lewed lith stille and loketh after lente. Ibid. (1393), C. IV. 249. Þe lest lad þat longeþ to hym … Lokeþ after lordshep oþer oþere large mede.

1413.  Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xxx. 78. They were lokyng after their help til they were deceyued.

1477.  Paston Lett., III. 194. He lokyth afftr that ye sholde come see hym.

1533.  Gau, Richt Vay, 37. Ve lwik efter ane blissit hop and the glorious cuming of the greit God.

a. 1555.  Ridley, Confer. w. Latimer (1556), E 7. Hetherunto ye se … how I haue in wordes onely made … a florishe before the fight, which I shortly loke after.

1611.  Bible, Luke xxi. 26. Mens hearts failing them for feare, and for looking after those things which are comming on the earth.

  d.  To seek for, demand (qualities).

1604.  Shaks., Oth., II. i. 251. The knaue … hath all those requisites in him, that folly and greene mindes looke after.

1692.  Locke, Educ., § 94. Wks. 1714, III. 41. There is yet another Reason, why Politeness of Manners, and Knowledge of the World, should principally be look’d after in a Tutour.

1822.  Coleridge, Lett., Convers., etc. II. 98. Those marks which too frequently are overlooked,… but which ought to be looked for and looked after, by every woman who has ever reflected on the words ‘my future Husband.’

  e.  To busy oneself about, concern oneself with; to give consideration to, consider.

1650.  Cromwell, Lett., 17 July, in Carlyle. O how good it is to close with Christ betimes: there is nothing else worth looking after.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., II. vii. § 3. God himself did dispense with the strict ceremoniall precepts of the Law, where men did look after the main and substantiall parts of the worship God required from them.

1695.  Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, III. ii. 162. My Subject does not necessarily oblige me to look after this Water, or to point forth the place whereinto ’tis now retreated.

1701.  W. Wotton, Hist. Rome, Alex., i. 430. He could not look after his Sons’ Education.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ix. II. 536. Under pretence of looking after the election, Clarendon set out for the West.

  f.  To attend to; to take care of; to ‘see to’ the safety or well-being of.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, IV. 616. Eftir the fyre he lukit fast.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., II. ii. 146. Saist thou so (old Iacke) … Ile make more of thy olde body then I haue done: will they yet looke after thee? Ibid. (1601), Twel. N., I. v. 144. He’s in the third degree of drinke: hee’s drown’d: go looke after him.

1737.  Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1756), I. 341. The many Boys I have had to look after my Horses.

1777.  Sheridan, Sch. for Scand., II. i. I shall just call in to look after my own character.

1847.  Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, iv. You must look after the pony and the pigs.

1885.  F. Anstey, Tinted Venus, 30. The person who ‘looked after him’ did not sleep on the premises.

1891.  Law Times, XCI. 32/2. In theory, no doubt, the investor should look after his own interests.

  g.  To keep watch upon. ? rare.

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., I. ii. 148. Is Lechery so look’d after?

1672.  C. Manners, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 25. Our Navy puts out again to sea … and wee shall then looke after the Holland Indian fleete.

1821.  Examiner, 742/1. The police look after all breaches of the peace.

  † 13.  Look against —. To look at (something dazzling). Obs.

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 1597. Swuch leome & liht leitede þrinne, Þæt ne mahten ha nawt lokin þer aȝeines.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., II. ii. 254. Shee is too bright to be look’d against.

  Look at —. See senses 1 and 3.

  14.  Look behind —. With pron. used refl. (For literal uses see 1 a and BEHIND prep.) Not or never to look behind one: colloq., to have an uninterrupted career of advancement or prosperity.

1852.  Serj. Bellasis, in E. Bellasis, Mem. (1893), 150. He did not look behind him, but got better and better.

  Look beside —. See BESIDE prep. 4 a.

  15.  Look for —.

  a.  To expect, to hope for, anticipate, be on the watch for.

c. 1513.  Q. Kath. in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. I. 153. The Scotts being soo besy … and I lokyng for my departing every houre.

1526.  Tindale, 2 Pet. iii. 13. Neverthelesse we loke for a neve heven and a newe erth accordynge to his promes.

1548.  Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John, 74 a. If thou be that very Messias whome we look for, tell it vs openly without all colour.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 21. Into England, where he was sooner arryved than he was looked for.

1611.  Bible, Matt. xi. 3. Art thou hee that should come? Or doe wee looke for another?

1684.  Contempl. State Man, I. vii. (1699), 77. Death steals … upon us, when we least look for it.

1756.  C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, I. 121. We may look for the residuum … to be in general very compound.

1828.  Examiner, 403/1. We must not look for figs from brambles.

1853.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 229. I must write … to tell them they may look for me any day.

1868.  Bain, Mental & Mor. Sci., 161. Looking for favour, we may encounter contumely.

1887.  ‘E. F. Byrrne’ (Emma Frances Brooke), Heir without Heritage, I. iii. 56. I look for you to join us.

  ellipt.  a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 47. Informed by his espialles that the daie of battaill was nerer then he loked for.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., VI. 332. Henrie tariet langre thair than ony man luiket for.

  b.  To seek, to search for.

1586.  Whitney, Choice of Emblems, To Rdr. (1866). A pearle shall not bee looked for in a poore mans purce.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., III. i. 3. Which way haue you look’d for Master Caius.

1861.  Dasent, Burnt Njal, I. 31. He had best look for a wife.

1871.  R. H. Hutton, Ess. (1877), I. 39. It … studies to find the higher unity … by looking for a uniting power.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 52. People who sweep the house to look for a thing.

1892.  Black & White, 26 Nov., 609/2. Caroline went to look for her a few hours afterwards.

  c.  Sc. To look at, to observe.

1785.  Burns, Halloween, x. Nell’s heart was dancin’ at the view, She whisper’d Rob to leuk for’t.

  16.  Look into —.

  ¶ a.  After L. respicere in of the Vulgate: To have respect to. Obs.

a. 1400.  Prymer (1891), 56 (Ps. ci[i.]). He lokede in to [Vulg. respexit in] the preiere of meeke men.

  b.  To direct one’s sight to the interior of. (See 1 a and INTO prep.) Also, to consult (a book) in a cursory manner.

1535.  Coverdale, Ezek. xxi. 21. To axe Councell at the Idols, and to loke in to the lyuer.

a. 1674.  Clarendon, Surv. Leviath. (1676), 336. Not only that the Scriptures are the Mount,… but that they may not be look’d into.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 47, ¶ 5. I so far observed his Counsel, that I looked into Shakespear.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., V. § 17. To be convinced of this truth, you need only look into Thucydides.

1832.  Tennyson, Mariana in South, 75. An image seem’d … To look into her eyes and say, [etc.].

1841.  Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 29. The fisherman, looking into the lake saw in it fish of different colours.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., i. I. 27. With such feelings, both parties looked into the chronicles of the middle ages. Both readily found what they sought.

  c.  To examine (a matter) minutely; to investigate (a question).

a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, I. (1590), 37. Those imperfections … you by the daily mending of your mind haue of late bin able to looke into them, which before you could not discerne.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., II. i. 245. Well, I wil looke further into’t.

1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, II. iii. 86. Let vs now looke into the temperature of Panama and all that coast.

1689.  Tryal Bps., 126. The only thing that is to be lookt into.

1859.  Tennyson, Enid, 1771. Thither came The King’s own leech to look into his hurt.

1879.  Huxley, Hume, vi. 117. It is needful to look narrowly into the propositions here laid down.

1890.  A. Gissing, Village Hampden, III. i. 15. Read your newspapers; look into the rights of things.

  d.  To enter (a house, etc.) for a few moments in passing Cf. look in (37 b).

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., viii. II. 296. It is said … that His Majesty deigned to look into the tennis court.

  † 17.  Look of —. Confusedly used for look on.

1530.  Tindale, Deut. vi. 4–7, marg. It is heresy with vs for a laye man to loke of gods worde or to reade it.

1570.  T. Wilson, trans. Demosthenes’ Olynthiacs, Ep. to Sir W. Cecil. Often he woulde englyshe his matters out of the Latine or Greeke vpon the sodeyne, by looking of the booke onely without reading or construing any thing at all.

c. 1592.  Marlowe, Jew of Malta, IV. iv. Curt. And where didst meet him? Pil. … Within 40 foot of the Gallowes, conning his neck-verse I take it, looking of a Fryars Execution.

  18.  Look on —. (See also senses 1 and 3.)

  a.  To pay regard to; to hold in esteem; to respect; = look upon, 24 a. Now dial.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 175. [He] shewed to them his letters Patentes, but neither he nor his writyng, was once regarded or looked on.

1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. vii. 22. I am not look’d on in the world.

1689.  Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 616. Father Petre is now at Rome, but is not much lookt on there.

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, li. He’d be a fine husband for anybody,… so looked-on an’ so cliver as he is.

  b.  To regard or consider as; = look upon, 24 c.

1629.  Earle, Microcosm., Good old Man (Arb.), 89. All men looke on him as a common father.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., I. ii. § 9. Mercuriall books,… which none of the wiser Heathens did ever look on as any other then Fables.

a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time (1724), I. 606. So they looked on him as a dead man.

1818.  Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), III. 240. It was to be looked on as an evidence, that [etc.].

1851.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XII. I. 190. I should look on them as omens of bad success.

1892.  Monthly Packet, March, 316. Every one … looked on victory as certain.

  c.  To regard with a specified feeling; = look upon, 24 b.

1846.  Keble, Serm., xiii. (1848), 325. As, in medicine, wise men look coldly on remedies which profess to be quite perfect and infallible.

1878.  R. H. Hutton, Scott, ix. 93. A publisher … looks on authors’ MSS. … with distrust.

1881.  Gardiner & Mullinger, Study Eng. Hist., I. iii. 40. Edwin and Morcar … looked on him with family jealousy.

  19.  Look over —. (See also simple senses and OVER prep.) a. To peruse or inspect cursorily; † to examine, pass in review.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., IV. ii. 38. Euery man looke ore his part: for … our play is preferred.

1675.  South, Serm. (1823), I. 301. Look over the whole creation, and you shall see, that [etc.].

1684.  Creech, trans. Juvenal, xiii. 164. Look o’er the present and the former time.

1780.  Charlotte Burney, in Mad. D’Arblay’s Early Diary (1889), II. 288. My father and him next went to looking over the prints.

1820.  W. Irving, Sketch Bk. (1859), 3. When … I look over the hints and memorandums I have taken down.

1848.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., IX. II. 369. The plantation would be looked over every year, and the weakest trees … taken out.

1855.  Ld. Houghton, in T. W. Reid, Life (1891), I. xi. 527. Mrs. Gaskell asked me to come and look over Miss Brontë’s papers.

  b.  To ignore, leave out of consideration. Now only, to overlook, pardon (a fault).

1666.  Bunyan, Grace Ab., ¶ 50. Though I endeavoured at the first to look over the business of Faith.

1887.  Emily Lawless, in Murray’s Mag., II. Sept., 425. He forgave her, and looked over her conduct!

1890.  A. Gissing, Village Hampden, II. xii. 263. Let us just warn the man, and look over it this time.

  c.  Sc. To look after, take care of.

1790.  Burns, Kind Sir, I’ve read, 21. Royal George, the Lord leuk o’er him.

  20.  Look through —. (Cf. 43.)

  a.  To direct one’s sight through (an aperture, a transparent body, or something having interstices); also fig. † To look through one’s fingers at: to pretend not to see; to connive at. † To look through a hempen window: to be hanged.

1508.  Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 15. Throw pykis of the plet thorne I presandlie luiket, Gif ony persoun wald approche.

1549.  Latimer, 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 152. Thei loke thorow ther fyngers and wil not se it.

1580.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 289. Since your eyes are so sharpe, that you cannot onely looke through a milstone, but cleane through the minde.

1592.  Shaks., Jul. C., I. ii. 202. He lookes Quite through the Deeds of men. Ibid. (1601), All’s Well, II. iii. 226. So my good window of Lettice fare thee well, thy casement I neede not open, for I look through thee.

c. 1610.  Sir J. Melvil, Mem. (1683), 1. For revenge he [Henry VIII.] looked through his fingers at the Preachers of the Reformed Religion.

1627.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Armado, Wks. (1630), I. 77/2. Making their wills at Wapping or looking thorow a hempen window at St. Thomas Waterings.

1628.  Earle, Microcosm., Meere Formall Man (Arb.), 30. When you haue seene his outside, you haue lookt through him.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 44, ¶ 5. The World is grown too wise, and can look through these thin Devices.

1830.  Tennyson, Lilian, 10. She, looking thro’ and thro’ me, Thoroughly to undo me, Smiling, never speaks.

1870.  Bryant, Iliad, I. IV. 123. Why look through The spaces that divide the warlike ranks?

  † b.  To be visible through. Obs.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., Induct. ii. 12. Such shooes as my toes look through the ouer-leather. Ibid. (1602), Ham., IV. vii. 152. That our drift looke through our bad performance, ’Twere better not assaid.

  c.  To direct one’s view over the whole of; to peruse cursorily from end to end; to glance through (a book).

1565.  Golding, Ovid’s Met., II. (1567), 16. Looke through the worlde so round … aske what thou lykest best.

1633.  Ford, ’Tis Pity, I. i. Looke through the world, And thou shalt see a thousand faces shine More glorious, then this Idoll thou ador’st.

1732.  Pope, Ess. Man, I. 32. But of this frame the bearings, and the ties,… Gradations just, has thy pervading soul Look’d thro’?

1858.  Macaulay, in Trevelyan, Life (1876), II. xiv. 452. I looked through ——’s two volumes.

  21.  Look to —. (See also 1, 3, 6, and TO prep.)

  a.  To direct a look or glance to. In early use chiefly Sc., equivalent to the mod. look at (see 3 a).

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, IV. 321. Than lukit he awfully thame to.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xviii. (Egipciane), 356. Þane stud þe monk … to þe erde lukand.

c. 1450.  Holland, Howlat, 900. He lukit to his lykame that lemyt so licht.

1508.  Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 120. I dar nought luk to my luf for that lene gib.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. iv. 77 (1604 Qo.). The very place puts toyes of desperation … into euery brain That lookes so many fadoms to the sea And heares it rore beneath.

1611.  Bible, 1 Sam. xvi. 12. He was … of a beautifull countenance, and goodly to looke to.

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xviii. 123. We looked to the sky at intervals.

  b.  To direct one’s attention to; to select for consideration. In Biblical use, occas. to regard with favor.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., xli. 300. To hwæm lociʓe ic buton to ðæm eaðmodum?

1340.  Ayenb., 89. Hy ssolden loki to hare zoþe uorbysne Ihesu crist.

c. 1400.  Cursor M., 28877 (Cott. Galba). Crist lukes noght to be almus dede,… bot efter gude will of þe gifer.

a. 1569.  Kingesmyll, Confl. Satan (1578), 5. Loke to thy former wayes what they have bene.

1580.  Sidney, Ps. XVIII. vii. I walk’d his [God’s] waies,… Still to his judgmentes look’t.

1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. iii. 126. Speaking … of the qualitie of the windes, we must … looke to the coastes or partes of the world from whence they proceede.

1611.  Bible, Isa. lxvi. 2. To this man will I looke, even to him that is poore and of a contrite spirit.

1844.  Mill, Ess., 87. If we look only to the effects which are intended.

1847.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VIII. I. 12. Graziers look more to quality than quantity of wool.

1891.  Law Times, XCII. 18/2. We incline to think that there will be an appeal,… looking to the terms of sect. 49 of the Judicature Act.

  c.  To attend to, take care of; † to tend, nurse (a sick person).

a. 1300.  St. Gregory, 1088, in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr., LVII. 70. An holy man … þat dygne were þer to done [sc. to be made pope] and cristendome to loke to.

c. 1320.  Cast. Love, 1659. And ȝe comforted me in prison eke, And loked to me when I was seke.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 152 b. After the death of this prelate,… the affayres in Fraunce, were neither well loked to, nor [etc.].

1549.  Latimer, Serm. Ploughers (Arb.), 24. Ye that be prelates loke well to your office.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 412. Come go with vs, wee’l looke to that anon.

1611.  Bible, Jer. xxxix. 12. Take him, and looke well to him, and doe him no harme.

1840.  Thackeray, Paris Sk.-bk., Beatrice Merger. Mother would never let me leave her, because I looked to my little brothers.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvi. III. 635. He ordered his own surgeon to look to the hurts of the captive.

1864.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XXV. I. 88. The cider should be looked to every morning.

1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., II. vii. The yard gate-lock should be looked to, if you please; it don’t catch.

  d.  In the imperative or in injunctive contexts: To direct one’s solicitude to (something) as endangered or needing improvement.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., V. iii. 39. My Liege beware, looke to thy selfe.

1602.  2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., IV. ii. 1880. Fellow looke to your braines; you are mad.

1630.  Hales, Gold. Rem., I. (1673), 281. The Refuter must be sure to look to the strength of his reasons.

1797.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, vii. ‘Look to your steps,’ said a voice.

1813.  Shelley, Q. Mab, IV. 237. Look to thyself, priest, conqueror, or prince!

1869.  T. Hughes, Alfred Gt., iii. 35. It behoved even the Holy Father to look to his fighting gear.

1889.  Repentance P. Wentworth, II. v. 118. Then look to your own ways and manners, sir!

  e.  To look to it: to be careful, beware. Often with clause, to take care, see that.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., III. i. 34. There is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion living; and we ought to look to ‘t. Ibid. (1600), A. Y. L., III. i. 4. Looke to it, Finde out thy brother wheresoere he is.

1672.  Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.), Rehearsal, I. i. (Arb.), 45. Thun. Let the Critiques look to ’t. Light. Let the Ladies look to ’t.

1703.  Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1732), 30. And they have reason to look well to it.

1842.  Tennyson, Dora, 26. In my time a father’s word was law, And so shall it be now for me. Look to it.

1892.  Gd. Words, May, 292/1. She would look to it that they had a roof over their heads.

  f.  To keep watch upon.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 6257. Lokis well to þe listes, þat no lede passe!

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 58 b. His kepers looked more narrowly to hym then thei did before.

1577–87.  Holinshed, Chron. (1807–8), II. 235. He committed him to the keeping of certeine gentlemen, which without much courtesie looked streightlie inough to him for starting awaie.

1593.  Nottingham Rec., IV. 238. That all the alhousess of the back syd of the town may be loukte tow.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 83. For two yeares hee [a prisoner] was strictly lookt too.

1752.  J. Louthian, Form of Process (ed. 2), 209. And then desires the Keeper to take A. B. the Prisoner from the Bar, and look to him, for he stands convicted of High Treason.

1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xix. 167. Constable, look to your prisoner.

1819.  Shelley, Cenci, IV. iv. 54. Sound the alarm; Look to the gates that none escape!

  g.  To direct one’s expectations to; to rely on (a person, etc.) for something.

1611.  Bible, Ecclus. xxxiv. 15. Blessed is the soule of him that feareth the Lord: to whom doeth he looke?

1806.  Windham, Speech, 22 Dec. ‘Man and steel, the soldier and his sword,’ are the only productions of a country that can be looked to with confidence for its protection and security.

1822.  Examiner, 227/2. To them then are the holders … to look for payment?

1885.  Law Times Rep., LIII. 226/2. The consignee is the person to whom a carrier looks for the price of the carriage of goods.

1892.  Blackw. Mag., CLI. 220/2. I look to you to help us all over this difficulty.

  h.  To look forward to (see 36); to expect, count upon.

1782.  Cowper, Table Talk, 495. A terrible sagacity informs The poet’s heart, he looks to distant storms, He hears the thunder ere the tempest lowers.

1804.  Wellesley, in Owen, Desp., 274. The French have never ceased to look to the re-establishment of their power.

1824.  Examiner, 108/1. Baron Gifford … looks to the Seals, when Lord Eldon retires.

1845.  Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 31. Clerkships in the public offices is the line of employment which the body of them look to.

  i.  To show affinity to. rare.

1835.  Kirby, Hab. & Inst. Anim., II. xxiv. 514. The bear seems to look towards the sloth; and the feline race, in their whiskers and feet, look to the hares and rats.

  22.  Look toward(s —. (See simple senses and TOWARD, TOWARDS prep.)

a. 1240.  Lofsong, in Cott. Hom., 211. Leoue louerd iesu crist loke toward me ase ich ligge lowe.

a. 1310.  in Wright, Lyric P., 69. Ihesu,… With thine suete eȝen loke towart me.

1821.  Shelley, Epipsych., 516. I have fitted up some chambers there Looking towards the golden Eastern air.

  b.  To look towards a person: in vulgar speech, to drink his health (? obs. exc. jocular).

1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, liii. The ladies drank to his ’ealth, and Mr. Moss, in the most polite manner ‘looked towards him.’

1853.  ‘C. Bede,’ Verdant Green, II. iii. The Pet … drank their healths with the prefatory remark ‘I looks to-wards you gents!’

  c.  = Look to, 21 i (where see quot. 1835).

  23.  Look unto —. arch. = Look to, in various senses: see 21 a–f.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 14333. Iesus he loked vnto þe lift.

1526.  Tindale, Heb. xii. 2. Lokynge vnto Iesus, the auctor and fynnyssher of oure fayth.

1545.  Raymond, Byrth Mankynde, Y v. In a fayre garden … if it be not regarded and loken vnto, the weedes … wyll [etc.].

a. 1550[?].  Freiris Berwik, 99, in Dunbar’s Poems (1893), 288. The gudwyf lukit vnto the Freiris tway.

1591.  Spenser, M. Hubberd, 292. For ere that unto armes I ne betooke, Unto my fathers sheepe I usde to looke.

1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., I. i. 208. Then lets make haste away, And looke vnto the maine.

1598.  trans. Aristotle’s Politiques, 379. And it should especially be looked vnto children, that they neither heare nor see such things.

1611.  Bible, Isa. xlv. 22. Looke vnto mee, and be ye saued.

1642.  C. Vernon, Consid. Exch., 88. Abuses … will grow like ill weeds … unless they be looked unto and weeded out.

  24.  Look upon —. (See also senses 1 and 3.)

  † a.  To pay regard to; esp. to regard favorably, hold in esteem; = look on, 18 a. Obs.

c. 1515.  in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. III. I. 181. Yf yt had nott ben lokyd upon betymes, I suppose yt wold not have ben abull to have contynuyd a Monastery ffower yeres.

1533.  Cromwell, Lett., 9 July, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), I. 357. For lacke … whereof ye haue forfaited to the kinges highnes the Somme of one thousande markes which … ye ought substaunciallye to loke uppon for the king is no person to be deluded … with all.

1533.  Gau, Richt Vay, 101. God hes lukit apone ye powerte of his madine or seruand.

1611.  Bible, 2 Macc. vii. 6. The Lord God looketh vpon vs.

  b.  With adv. or adj. complement: To regard with a certain expression of countenance, or with a certain feeling; = look on, 18 c.

1619.  Middleton, Inner Temple Masque, 23. The nearest kin I have looks shy upon me.

1629.  Maxwell, trans. Herodian (1635), 61. The Romane Citizens being thus surrounded with direfull mis-haps … begaune to look sowre upon Commodus.

1633.  Massinger, Guardian, IV. ii. I look with sore eyes upon her good fortune, and wish it were mine own.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 37, ¶ 5. I look upon her with a mixture of Admiration and Pity.

1740.  trans. De Mouhy’s Fort. Country-Maid (1741), I. 273. I fancied he look’d something sweet upon me.

1847.  Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, xxv. Edward was … satisfied that he was not quite looked upon with indifference by Patience Heatherstone.

1864.  Tennyson, Enoch Arden, 56. And all men look’d upon him favourably.

  c.  To regard as, † to consider to be so-and-so (cf. 18 b). † Also, to look upon it: to be of opinion that.

1662.  Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., III. ii. § 9. Both Pythagoras and Plato looked upon constitutionem syluæ to bee opus providentiæ.

1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., IV. Advt., A Change of Circumstances, has occasion’d the Publication of these Papers,… in such a way as will make most Readers look upon them as containing a story purely Romantick.

1674.  Brevint, Saul at Endor, 237. It is lookt upon, as one of those very strange things, which if she doth, it is seldome.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 31, ¶ 2. This Objection was looked upon as frivolous. Ibid., No. 191, ¶ 7. This Morning … I set up an Equipage which I look upon to be the gayest in the Town.

1756.  C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, I. 151. The antients looked upon water as the … first principle of all created things.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 300. I now looked upon it that we might think ourselves secure.

1822.  Examiner, 203/1. You are looked upon as a kind lord.

  V.  With adverbs.

  25.  Look about. intr. See simple senses and ABOUT adv.; fig. to be on the watch, on the look-out. Also const. for († after): to be in search of. (Cf. to look about one, 11 b.)

a. 1300.  K. Horn, 1087. He lokede aboute, Myd is collede snoute.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XIX. 669. The fox … Lukit about sum hoill to se.

c. 1420.  Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 347. She loked euer about as though she had be mad.

a. 1425.  Cursor M., 11744 (Trin.). As þei to gider talkyng were þei loked aboute fer & nere.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xx. 445. And whan rowlande was come out of the cave, he loked about for to know where they were.

1530.  Palsgr., 613/2. I loke aboute, as one dothe that taketh the vewe of a place or contray.

1566.  Adlington, Apuleius, VII. xiii. (1893), 152. The shepheards looking about for a Cow that they had lost.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. v. 40. The day is broke, be wary, looke about. Ibid. (1610), Temp., I. ii. 410.

1611.  Bible, Tobit xi. 5. Now Anna sate looking about towards the way for her sonne.

1704.  Norris, Ideal World, II. x. 395. Like the man who … looks about after the candle which he has all the while on his own head.

1724.  De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 155. It was time to look about.

1750.  Student, I. 323. The fidler … soon after enter’d … and then every man look’d about for his partner.

Mod.  The last time I saw him he was looking about for something to do.

  26.  Look abroad. intr. See simple senses and ABROAD adv.

c. 1450.  [see ABROAD adv. 4].

1664.  Waller, From a Child, 4. Before our Violets dare look abroad.

1784.  Cowper, Task, V. 738. He looks abroad into the varied field Of nature.

1834.  L. Ritchie, Wand. by Seine, 192. The young men do not look abroad for a wife.

  † 27.  Look again, againward. intr. To look back. Also fig. Obs.

a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 2351. Heo as me ledde hire, lokede aȝeinward, for ludinge þæt ha herde.

c. 1320.  [see AGAINWARD adv. 1].

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 41. No man sendynge his hond to þe plowȝ and lokenge a-ȝen is able to þe kyngdom of god.

c. 1400.  [see AGAIN adv. 1 a].

  † 28.  Look aloft. intr. To aspire, be ambitious. Obs.

1533.  Frith, Agst. Rastell (1829), 236. If the remnants of sin fortune at any time to look aloft and begin to reign, then he sendeth some cross of adversity or sickness to help to suppress them.

1567.  [see ALOFT 11].

1568.  Grafton, Chron., I. 162. By this mariage, Egeldred began to looke a loft, and thought much of himselfe.

  † 29.  Look alow. intr. To humble oneself.

1582.  Bentley, Mon. Matrones, II. 33. There is no sainct so perfect … but looking a-lowe, shall find himselfe vnworthy, and so stop his mouth.

  30.  Look around. intr. To look in several directions; fig. to take a comprehensive view of things.

1754.  A. Murphy, Gray’s Inn. Jrnl., No. 93. He looked around, and saw a reverend Form advance towards him.

1791.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest (1820), I. 185. Louis looked around in search of La Motte.

1847.  Mrs. A. Kerr, Hist. Servia, 239. When the Servians now looked around, they congratulated themselves on having made a successful campaign.

1880.  Newman Smyth, Old Faiths in New Lt., ii. (1882), 32. We look around sceptical of our own impressions.

  31.  Look aside. intr. To turn aside one’s eyes; to look obliquely.

1508.  Dunbar, Gold. Targe, 225. On syde scho lukit wyth ane fremyt fare.

1530.  Palsgr., 613/2. I loke asyde by chaunce, or caste myn eye asyde. Ibid. I loke asyde upon one by disdayne.

1855.  Browning, Andrea del Sarto, 147. They pass and look aside.

  Look askance, askew, asquint: see the advs.

  32.  Look back. intr.

  a.  To turn and look at something in the direction from which one is going or from which one’s face is turned.

1538.  Elyot, Dict., Respicio, to loke backe, to haue regarde [etc.].

a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, I. (1590), 2. At yonder rising of the ground she turned her selfe, looking backe toward her woonted abode.

1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., III. v. 19. Looke back, defend thee, here are Enemies.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XII. 641. They looking back, all th’ Eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late thir happie seat.

1712–4.  Pope, Rape of Lock, III. 138. Thrice she look’d back, and thrice the foe drew near.

1797.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xii. Often they looked back to the convent, expecting to see lights issue from the avenue.

  b.  To direct the mind to something that is past; to think on the past. Const. into, on, upon, to.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., I. ii. 102. Gracious Lord … Looke back into your mightie Ancestors.

1651.  Baxter, Saints’ Rest, IV. 130. Is it not a very little time when thou lookest back on it?

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 100, ¶ 1. A Man advanced in Years that thinks fit to look back upon his former Life.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 200. He would have looked back with remorse on a literary life of near thirty years.

1889.  Mallock, Enchanted Island, 221. Experiences like these are always fresh to look back upon.

1892.  Eng. Illustr. Mag., IX. 331. One portion of my life is not pleasant to look back to.

  † c.  To look to a person for something. (? After L. respicere.) Obs.

1646.  P. Bulkeley, Gospel Covt., I. 52. The whole creation lookes backe unto him that made it for preservation in their being.

  † d.  trans. = look back to. Obs.

1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., III. xi. 53. See How I conuey my shame, out of thine eyes, By looking backe what I haue left behinde Stroy’d in dishonor.

  e.  colloq. in negative contexts: To show signs of retrogression or interrupted progress. (Cf. 14.)

1893.  Daily News, 5 Jan., 3/6. Since that day St. Simon has never, to use a slang phrase of the day, ‘looked back.’

  33.  Look down.

  a.  intr. See simple senses and DOWN adv.

c. 1200.  [see 45 a].

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvii. (Vincencius), 326. Keparis or þe presone, þat thru smal holis lokit done.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, V. 146. Vpon Fawdoun as he was lukand doune.

1562.  Pilkington, Expos. Abdyas, Pref. 3. Hee that sittes on hygh looked doune to the lowe dungeon of the pryson, and raised Joseph to be ruler.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., V. i. 201. Looke downe you gods And on this couple drop a blessed crowne.

1726.  Swift, Gulliver, II. viii. I looked down upon the servants,… as if they had been pigmies, and I a giant.

1871.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xviii. 212. Thus is formed the promontory of Lincoln looking down upon the river to the South of it.

  b.  fig. To look down on, upon: to hold in contempt, to scorn; to consider oneself superior to.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 255, ¶ 9. A solid and substantial Greatness of Soul looks down with a generous Neglect on the Censures and Applauses of the Multitude.

1728.  Veneer, Sincere Penitent, Ded. Looking down upon it with a generous contempt of all its vanities.

1889.  Jessopp, Coming of Friars, ii. 85. The monks looked down upon the parsons, and stole their endowments from them.

1893.  Chamb. Jrnl., 29 July, 476/1. They [lads of the British army] are … looked down upon and scorned.

  † c.  To have a downcast or mournful look.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lvi. 12. It is no glaid collatioun Quhair ane makis myrrie, ane vther lukis doun.

  d.  Comm. To tend downwards in price.

1806.  Ann. Reg., 49. The bounties would begin soon, in the language of ’Change Alley, to ‘be looking down.’

1825.  Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 173. Who, when the shares ‘look down,’ try to sell.

  e.  trans. To quell or overcome by one’s looks.

1840.  Dickens, Humphrey’s Clock, Clock-case, 33. I never could look the boy down.

1847.  Mrs. Gore, Castles in Air, xxx. (1857), 285. Having no importunate witnesses present … to look me down while I was bragging.

  34.  Look downward. intr. = Look down, 33.

c. 1400, 1562.  [see DOWNWARD A. 1 b].

1667.  Milton, P. L., III. 722. Look downward on that Globe whose hither side With light from hence, though but reflected, shines.

1823.  Examiner, 104/1. Consols were rather looking downward.

  35.  Look forth. intr. To look out (of a window, etc., on to something). Now arch. and poet.

c. 1420.  Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 1982. Then lokyd I forthe as Doctryne me badde.

1508.  Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 308. I salbe laith to lat him le, quhill I may luke furth.

1611.  Bible, Song Sol. ii. 9. He looketh forth … at the windowe.

1667.  Milton, P. L., XII. 209. Through the Firey Pillar and the Cloud God looking forth will trouble all his Host.

c. 1775.  T. Lindsey, Song. Look forth, look forth, my fairest! Thy faithful knight is nigh.

1781.  Cowper, Friendship, 80. Jealousy looks forth distressed On good that seems approaching.

1813.  Scott, Rokeby, I. i. The warder … from old Baliol’s tower looks forth.

1828.  Lytton, Pelham, xvii. The chevalier looked wistfully forth.

  36.  Look forward. intr. (See FORWARD B. 1 b.) Const. to, occas. for, † on.

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., IV. iii. 61. Looke forward on the iournie you shall go.

1737.  Pope, Hor. Ep., II. ii. 314. Pleas’d to look forward, pleas’d to look behind.

a. 1766.  Mrs. F. Sheridan, Nourjahad (1767), 71. The loss of Mandana imbitters all my joys, and methinks I begin to look forward with disgust.

1844.  H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, III. 48. They … looked forward to the speedy expulsion of the intruders.

1861.  Thackeray, Adv. Philip, xxxii. The way in which we looked forward for letters from our bride and bridegroom.

1892.  Temple Bar, Nov., 379. We were looking forward to a merry time.

  37.  Look in.

  a.  See simple senses and IN adv.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 17288 + 188 (Cott.). Iohne … loked in & saȝe þe schetez, bot he dorst not gang in.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 223/2. To Luke jn, jnspicere.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, xlviii. 10. Me thocht Aurora … In at the window lukit by the day.

1535.  Coverdale, Song Sol. ii. 9. He … loketh in at the wyndowe, & pepeth thorow the grate.

1591.  Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. iv. 62. Here, through this Grate … Let vs looke in, the sight will much delight thee.

1830.  Tennyson, Mermaid, 26. That great sea-snake … Would … look in at the gate With his large calm eyes.

1839.  Longf., Vill. Blacksm., iv. And children coming home from school Look in at the open door.

  b.  To enter a room, etc., for the purpose of seeing something; hence, in mod. use, to make a call, to call (upon a person); to ‘drop in’ for a short stay or interview.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., V. ii. 257. Looke in vpon me then, and speake with me. Ibid. (1610), Temp., V. i. 167. This Cell ’s my Court:… pray you looke in.

1799.  in Spirit Pub. Jrnls., III. 121. To fashionably and carelessly look in at Tattersall’s.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., ii. Will 10’o’clock be too late to look in for half an hour?

1884.  G. Gissing, Unclassed, III. VI. i. 136. Could you manage to look in at the office to-morrow at mid-day?

1890.  W. Clark Russell, Ocean Trag., III. xxvi. 4. I’ll look in upon him after breakfast.

1892.  Temple Bar, Oct., 164. He would look in at the jeweller’s at once and get her that bracelet.

1892.  Mrs. Oliphant, Marriage Elinor, II. xviii. 46. Some prodigious reception to which people ‘looked in’ for half an hour.

  † 38.  Look off. To turn one’s eyes away. Obs.

1710–1.  Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 4 Jan. No, no, look off, don’t smile at me. Ibid. (1738), Pol. Conv., 25. Why then, Mr. Neverout, do you see, if you don’t much like it, you may look off of it.

1762–71.  H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), V. 113. Another small head of a man looking off.

  39.  Look on. intr.

  a.  To direct one’s looks towards an object in contemplation or observation; often, to be a mere spectator (and not a participator in the action). To look on ahead: to look forward into the future.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Deut. xxviii. 32. Sin þine suna and þine dohtra ʓeseald oðrum folce, þær þu on locie [L. videntibus oculis tuis].

c. 1315.  Shoreham (E.E.T.S.), I. 1295. So schulle þe rederes now Hy rede and conne on lowke.

1456.  Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 303. A trety of proprieteis … that salbe gude and prouffitable for all men that on lukis.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iv. 38. Ile be a Candleholder and looke on.

1628.  Earle, Microcosm., Bowle Alley (Arb.), 61. He enioyes it that lookes on and bets not.

1744.  Ozell, trans. Brantome’s Sp. Rhodomontades, 21. Miscarrying in that Design too, he contented himself, for a while, to lye-bye and look on.

1823.  J. F. Cooper, Pioneers, iii. (1869), 14/1. One who looked on a-head to the wants of posterity.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 63. Potters’ boys are trained to the business by looking on at the wheel.

1879.  M. Pattison, Milton, x. 118. The world looks on and laughs.

  b.  colloq. To look on (with): to read from a book, etc., at the same time (with another person).

1893.  Cornh. Mag., Jan., 64. As they seem to have had a scarcity of music, necessitating a good deal of ‘looking on.’

  40.  Look out.

  a.  intr. (See simple senses and OUT.) To look from within a building or the like to the outside; also, to put one’s head out of an aperture, e.g., a window.

1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 352. That I be nyhte mai arise, At som wyndowe and loken oute.

c. 1450.  Holland, Howlat, 63. To luke out on day licht.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron. Hen. VIII., 91 b. A prison and a man lokyng out at a grate.

1567.  Harman, Caveat, 38. [She] wente vnto her hall windowe … and loking out therat, pointed with her fingar.

1607.  Shaks., Timon, V. i. 131. Lord Timon, Timon, Looke out, and speake to Friends.

a. 1625.  Fletcher, False One, I. ii. (Song) Looke out, bright eyes, and blesse the ayre: Even in shadowes you are faire.

1635.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Banish’d Virg., 13. Looking out at it [the doore] all afrighted.

1855.  Tennyson, Maud, I. ix. 3. The sun look’d out with a smile Betwixt the cloud and the moor.

  transf.  1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, VII. ii. (Rtldg.), 5. They … looked out at the corners of their eyes.

  † b.  To appear, show itself. Obs.

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., IV. v. 56. Her wanton spirites looke out At euery ioynt, and motiue of her body. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., V. i. 50. The businesse of this man lookes out of him. Ibid. (1607), Timon, III. ii. 79. And yet, oh see the monstrousnesse of man, When he lookes out in an vngratefull shape.

  c.  To be on the watch or look-out; to exercise vigilance, take care. (Cf. LOOK-OUT.)

1602.  B. Jonson, Poetaster, II. i. These Courtiers runne in my minde still; I must looke out.

1655.  C. Chauncy, in Quincy, Hist. Harvard Univ. (1840), I. 469. That … your petitioner … [may not be] enforced to look out to alter his condition.

1704.  F. Fuller, Med. Gymn. (1711), Pref. It is high time to look out, and set upon a resolute Course of Riding.

1740.  trans. De Mouhy’s Fort. Country-Maid (1741), I. 79. Let us look out sharp where we are, this is the Place we lost her in.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v. Look-out, The mate of the watch … calls often from the quarter-deck, ‘Look out afore there!’

1829.  Landor, Imag. Conv., Miguel & his Mother, Wks. 1853, I. 560/1. Before that time I will look out sharply, and afterward you must.

1840.  Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diamond, vi. ‘Look out,’ said that envious McWhirter to me.

1886.  Besant, Childr. Gibeon, II. ix. You’d better look out. Melenda’s in a rage.

1892.  Black & White, 10 Sept., 301/2. We shall lose India if we don’t look out.

  d.  To field, ‘scout’ (at cricket). ? nonce-use.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., vii. Several players were stationed, to ‘look out,’ in different parts of the field.

  e.  To look out for: to watch or search for; to be on the look-out for; to await vigilantly.

1669.  Lady Chaworth, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 11. Some [are] so foolish now to cry the Duchess hath done itt, to looke out for love letters.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 268, ¶ 3. Where shall we find the Man who looks out for one who places her chief Happiness in the Practice of Virtue?

1742.  Berkeley, Lett. to Gervais, 2 Feb., Wks. 1871, IV. 264. I wrote … to Dean Browne to look out for a six-stringed bass viol of an old make and mellow tone.

1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., xxvi. Prepare then this evening to look out for work against to-morrow.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xxvi. Rely on my looking out for your safety.

1831.  O’Connell, Speech Ho. Comm., 27 June. [They] begin to look out for disturbances—or as the sailors say, to look out for squalls.

1892.  Chamb. Jrnl., 4 June, 361/2. I’ll look out for something to do.

  f.  To have or afford an outlook (on, over, etc.).

1686.  trans. Chardin’s Coronat. Solyman, 84. The great Portal of his Palace that looks out into the Royal square.

1820.  W. Irving, Sketch Bk., Roscoe (1821), I. 23. The windows of the study, which looked out upon the soft scenery I have mentioned.

1859.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 6. The back court that my windows look out on.

1866.  W. Collins, Armadale, I. 162. The bedroom looked out over the great front door.

1874.  Ruskin, Hortus Inclusus (1887), 3. His own little cell, looking out on the olive woods.

  † g.  To make any brief excursion. (Cf. look in, 37 b.) Obs.

1551.  T. Wilson, Rule of Reason (1580), 46. He looked not out of his house all that daie.

1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. I. 127. The Fish is presently sent to the Market in one of their Boats, the rest looking out again for more.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 296. It was not till the 12th instant that we were able to look out to sea further than to supply the seamen on board the buss with provisions.

  h.  trans. To find by looking; to choose out by looking.

1535.  Coverdale, Ezek. xxi. 29. Thou hast loked the out vanities, & prophecied lyes.

c. 1590.  Marlowe, Faust., viii. 7. She has sent me to look thee out; prithee, come away.

1607.  Shaks., Timon, III. ii. 67. Ile looke you out a good turne, Seruilius.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xli. 33. Let Pharaoh looke out a man discreet and wise.

1658.  Plymouth Col. Rec. (1855), III. 141. Liberty is graunted vnto Mr. Josias Winslow,… to look out a place to suply him with twenty fiue acres of land.

1768.  E. Cleaveland, in B. P. Smith, Hist. Dartmouth Coll. (1878), 36. The Deputy Surveyor,… offered his assistance to look out the township and survey it.

1789.  Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, II. 133. I am tired of looking out words to express their various merits.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, viii. You ’re a-staring at the pocket-handkerchiefs! eh, my dear!… We’ve just looked ’em out, ready for the wash.

c. 1884.  ‘Edna Lyall,’ We Two, xix. She went … to the Bradshaw, and looked out the afternoon trains.

  41.  Look over. a. trans. To cast one’s eyes over; to scrutinize; to examine (papers, or the like).

c. 1450.  St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 11. Saynt cuthbert lyfe … Who so lykes to luk it oure, He sall’ fynde it part in foure.

1706.  Hearne, Collect., 8 March (O. H. S.), I. 201. Dr. Kennett … look’d them [MSS.] all over. Ibid. (1712), III. 301. Gronovius hath publish’d some extracts out of Josephus with emendations…. I must look them over.

1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, XI. ii. (Rtldg.), 396. The minister … looked me over from head to foot.

1861.  Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., ii. (1889), 14. Tom had time to look him well over, and see what sort of man had come to his rescue.

1892.  Temple Bar, April, 467. I have a number of papers to look over.

  b.  colloq. = look on, 39 b.

  42.  Look round. intr.

  a.  To look about in every direction.

1526.  Tindale, Mark iii. 5. He loked rounde aboute on them angrely.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VI. 529. Others from the dawning Hills Lookd round, and Scouts each Coast light armed scoure.

1781.  Cowper, Expost., 27. Let the Muse look round From East to West, no sorrow can be found.

1791.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest (1820), I. 100. I looked round in search of a human dwelling.

1863.  Geo. Eliot, Romola, xxix. Tito looked round with inward amusement at the various crowd.

1892.  Black & White, 19 March, 367/2. I had now time and daylight enough to look round.

  b.  fig. To search about for.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 161. In great perturbation men began to look round for help.

  43.  Look through.

  a.  trans. To penetrate with a look or glance; to search. lit. and fig.

c. 1450.  Holland, Howlat, 49. I sawe ane Howlat … Lukand the laike throwe.

1667.  Dryden, Ind. Emperor, III. ii. (1668), 32. Fate sees thy Life lodg’d in a brittle Glass, And looks it through, but to it cannot pass.

1737.  Pope, Hor. Ep., I. i. 108. Who bids thee face with steady view Proud Fortune, and look shallow Greatness thro’.

1887.  Edin. Rev., July, 231. His eye glaring at a stranger with a gaze that seemed to look him through and through.

  b.  To examine or survey exhaustively.

1742–3.  Young, Nt. Th., VI. Look nature through, ’tis revolution all.

1781.  Cowper, Conversat., 749. Look human nature through.

  † c.  intr. To become visible or obvious. Obs.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. iv. 120. Th’ incessant care … Hath wrought the Mure, that should confine it in, So thinne, that Life lookes through, and will breake out.

  † 44.  Look under. intr. To look down. Obs.

1700.  Dryden, Pal. & Arc., II. 340. Thus pondering, he looked under with his eyes.

  45.  Look up.

  a.  See simple senses and UP adv.; to raise the eyes, turn the face upward.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 173. Ðanne … þo wreches … lokeð up and dun and al abuten.

c. 1220.  Bestiary, 187. Ne deme ðe noȝt wurdi ðat tu dure loken up to ðe heueneward.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 21393. Constantin … lok up … He sagh þar cristis cros ful bright.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Sir Thopas, Prol. 8. Approche neer, and looke vp murily.

1535.  Coverdale, Ps. xl. 12. My synnes haue taken soch holde vpon me, that I am not able to loke vp.

1608.  Shaks., Per., I. ii. 55. How dares [sic] the plants looke vp to heauen, From whence they haue their nourishment?

1637.  Milton, Lycidas, 125. The hungry Sheep look up, and are not fed.

a. 1800.  Cowper, Jackdaw, 10. Look up—your brains begin to swim.

1855.  Tennyson, Brook, 204. And he look’d up. There stood a maiden near.

1892.  F. M. Crawford, in Longm. Mag., Jan., 247. She looked up from her writing as though she had been long absorbed in it.

  † b.  Of a plant: To show itself above the ground.

1657.  R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 97. If it be suffer’d to look up in a Garden, it will wind about all Herbs and Plants that have Stalks.

  † c.  To cheer up, take courage, be cheerful.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. iv. 113. My Soueraigne Lord, cheare vp your selfe, looke vp. Ibid. (1602), Ham., III. iii. 50. Then Ile looke vp, My fault is past. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., V. i. 215. Deare, looke vp.

  d.  To look up to († occas. at): (a) to direct the look or face up towards; to raise the eyes towards, in adoration, supplication, etc.; (b) fig. to have a feeling of respect or veneration for.

a. 1626.  Bacon, New Atl. (1627), 7. Let vs looke vp to God, and euery man reforme his owne wayes.

1719.  Freethinker, No. 157, ¶ 6. These Three Ladies … look up to him, as their Patron and Defender.

1757.  Mrs. Griffith, Lett. Henry & Frances (1767), III. 100. The rest seem to look up at you, as of an higher Order of Intelligence.

1794.  C. Pigot, Female Jockey Club, 141. Are these the patriots, to whom England was to look up for Salvation?

1843.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., IV. I. 210. Sweden looks up to British agriculture as the model for imitation.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xx. IV. 447. The Whig members still looked up to him as their leader.

1881.  Gardiner & Mullinger, Study Eng. Hist., I. x. 178. In Pitt England had at last found the man to whom it could look up.

  e.  slang. To improve. Chiefly Comm.: cf. look down, 33 d.

1822.  Examiner, 725/1. Foreign Securities are generally looking up.

1835.  Tait’s Mag., II. 211. The Radicals are, to use a mercantile phrase, looking up.

1884.  G. Allen, Philistia, I. xi. 303. Trade is looking up.

1888.  Sarah Tytler, Blackhall Ghosts, III. xxix. 85. I don’t believe that agriculture will look up in this country for many a day.

  f.  Naut. (See quot.)

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., To look, the bearing or direction, as, she looks up, is approaching her course.

  g.  To search for (something) in a dictionary or work of reference, among papers, or the like; to consult (books) in order to gain information.

1692.  Wood, Life, 24 July. They decided to look up it [Athenae Oxon.]—to see what I said of the Presbyterians.

1865.  Mill, Exam. Hamilton, 458. I have only looked up the authorities nearest at hand.

1876.  Miss Yonge, Womankind, vi. 44. She had better look the definitions up at the beginning of the books of Euclid.

1890.  Fenn, Double Knot, I. iii. 113. I have been looking up the Glens. Not a bad family, but a younger branch.

  h.  To call on, go to see (a person). colloq.

1852.  Dickens, Bleak Ho., xlix. George will look us up … at half-after four.

1885.  Illustr. Lond. News, 21 Feb., 208/3. So do look me up … and you will be most welcome.

1892.  W. D. Howells, in Harper’s Mag., LXXXIV. 246/2. You’d better look him up at his hotel.

  i.  To search for.

1468.  Paston Lett., II. 329. The obligacion of the Bisshop of Norwychys oblygacion, I never sye it that I remembre; wherfor I wolde and prey my modre to loke it up.

1473.  Sir J. Paston, in P. Lett., III. 37. I … praye yow to loke uppe my Temple of Glasse, and send it me by the berer herof.

1636.  Earl Manch., in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 276. It will be best for every one to … look up the exemptions they have.

1669.  Plymouth Col. Rec. (1856), V. 27. The Court haue ordered that … the said Winge be required to looke vp the said Indian, and bringe him … before some one of the majestrates.

1861.  Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., iv. (1889), 30. He was … a sort of boating nurse, who looked-up and trained the young oars.

1894.  Ld. Wolseley, Life Marlborough, I. 278. Hearing of some rebels in the neighbourhood of Taunton, he sent a small party of Oxford’s regiment to look them up.

  j.  To direct vigilance to.

1855.  Mrs. Marsh, Heiress of Haughton, II. 52. Phillips is new to his place, remember;—you must look him up, if he is careless.

1862.  Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, II. 235. A pretty time o’ day this is to deliver the letters!… You letter-men want looking up.

  k.  To look (a person) up and down: to scrutinize his appearance from head to foot.

1892.  Standard, 3 Oct., 4/7. They prefer to look his Viceroy up and down and all round before giving him a character.

1893.  Strand Mag., VI. 125/2. People looked her up and down.

  † 46.  Look upon. = Look on, 39 a. Obs.

1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. iii. 27. Whiles the Foe doth … looke vpon, as if the Tragedie were plaid in iest, by counterfetting Actors. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., V. vi. 10. Aia. Ile fight with him alone, stand Diomed. Dio. He is my prize, I will not looke vpon. Troy. Come both you coging Greekes, haue at you both. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T. V. iii. 100. Strike all that looke vpon with meruaile.

  47.  Comb.: look-like-a-goose sb., one who has a stupid look.

1624.  Bp. Mountagu, Gagg, 300. He hath the figure of a man as Will Summer had, though he be indeed as very a Look-like-a-goose as he was.