Looks

look  (lk)

v. looked, look·ing, looks

v.intr.

1.

a. To employ one's sight, especially in a given direction or on a given object: looking out the window; looked at the floor.

b. To search: We looked all afternoon but could not find it.

2.

a. To turn one's glance or gaze: looked to the right.

b. To turn one's attention; attend: looked to his neglected guitar during vacation; looked at the evidence.

c. To turn one's expectations: looked to us for a solution.

3. To seem or appear to be: look morose. See Synonyms at seem.

4. To face in a specified direction: The cottage looks on the river.

v.tr.

1. To turn one's eyes on: looked him in the eye.

2. To convey by one's expression: looked annoyance at the judge; looked his devotion to me.

3.

a. To have an appearance of conformity with: He looks his age. She dressed up to look the part.

b. To appear to be: looked the fool in one version of the story.

n.

1.

a. The act or instance of looking: I took just one look and I was sure.

b. A gaze or glance expressive of something: gave her a mournful look.

2.

a. Appearance or aspect: a look of great age.

b. looks Physical appearance, especially when pleasing.

c. A distinctive, unified manner of dress or fashion: the preferred look for this fall.

Phrasal Verbs:

look after

To take care of: looked after his younger brother.

look for

1. To search for; seek: looking for my gloves.

2. To expect: Look for a change of weather in March.

look into

To inquire into; investigate: The police looked into the disturbance.

look on/upon

To regard in a certain way: looked on them as incompetents.

look out

To be watchful or careful; take care: If you don't look out, you may fall on the ice. We looked out for each other on the trip.

look over

To examine or inspect, often in hasty fashion: looked over the proposal before the meeting.

look to Usage Problem

1. To expect or hope to: He looked to hear from her within a week.

2. To seem about to; promise to: "an 'Action Program,' which ... looked to reduce tariffs on over 1,800 items" (Alan D. Romberg).

look up

1. To search for and find, as in a reference book.

2. To visit: look up an old friend.

3. To become better; improve: Things are at last looking up.

Idioms:

look a gift horse in the mouth Informal

To be critical or suspicious of something one has received without expense.

look alive/sharp Informal

To act or respond quickly: Look alive! We leave in five minutes.

look down on/upon

To regard with contempt or condescension.

look down (one's) nose at/on

To regard with contempt or condescension.

look forward to

To think of (a future event) with pleasurable, eager anticipation: looking forward to graduation.

look in on

To visit: I look in on my grandparents each weekend.

look the other way

To deliberately overlook something: knew the student was cheating but decided to look the other way.

look up to

To admire: looked up to her mother.

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[Middle English loken, from Old English lcian.]

Usage Note: The phrasal verb look to has recently developed the meanings "expect to" and "hope to," as in The executives look to increase sales once the economy improves or I'm looking to sell my car in July. In a recent survey, the Usage Panel was divided almost evenly on this usage, with 52 percent of the Panelists finding it acceptable and 48 percent rejecting it. Of those rejecting this usage, a small number volunteered that they would find it acceptable in informal speech, and in fact the divided response of the Panel may be due in part to the informal flavor of this phrase.

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Looks 

See Also: FROWNS AND SCOWLS, SCRUTINY, STARES

1. Accusing look … as Cotton Mather might have looked at a Salem woman in the stocks —Mary Gordon
2. Always looked at you as if you had interrupted him in the performance of some slightly tedious but nonetheless necessary task —Louis Auchincloss
3. Black glance like ice —Jean Garrigue
4. Contemplate … with a kind of quiet premeditation, like that of a slow-witted man fondling an unaccustomed thought —Beryl Markham
5. Disdainful look like that of a coffee drinker sipping a cup of instant —Anon
6. Exchanged fidgeting looks like a pair of consternated hamsters —Sarah Bird
7. Exchanged wide-eyed looks that clinked in the air like fine glassware —Sharon Sheehe Stark
8. Eyeing me … like a starved hog watching the trough get filled —Harold Adams
9. Felt his eyes slide over her like a steamy wet cloak —Joseph Wambaugh
10. Gaze at me like chastened children sitting silent in a school —Thomas Hardy
11. Gazed at … with nudging, sympathetic smiles, like grandmothers watching babies in a play-pen —Mary McCarthy
12. Gaze … fixed like a snake’s —Donald MacKenzie
13. Glance as vacant as the smoothness of the pond —David Ignatow
14. Glanced at one another like tigers taking measure of a menacing new rival —Erich Segal
15. Glance … like a needle’s flash —Frank Swinnerton
16. Glowered back like a sullen watchdog —Frank Swinnerton
17. Her flat dark eyes moved down Melinda like a smudge —Jessamyn West
18. Her gaze moved like a prison searchlight —Michael Dorris
19. Her gaze was like a magnet that drew towards it my will-less secret —Jean Stafford
20. His eyes glowed on me like a warm hand —Borden Deal
21. His eyes on me as hot as a bare hand —R. Wright Campbell
22. His eyes set on Linda’s open shirtfront like a cat sighting a fat bird —Gloria Norris

    See Also: MEN AND WOMEN

23. His eyes slewed round to meet yours and then cannoned off again like a pool-ball —Séan Virgo
24. His glance came back across mine like saw teeth across a nail —Wallace Stegner
25. His look was like a hand in the scruff of Bruce’s neck —Wallace Stegner
26. Like swallows darting about a barn her deep blue eyes flickered from one to the other —F. van Wyck Mason
27. (Gave me) a long [forgiving] look like Christ crucified —Clare Boylan
28. Look at him as if he were a lamppost —Leo Tolstoy
29. Looked about him like the fallen archangel whose only wish was for eternal enmity —Honoré de Balzac
30. Looked around her at the crowd, with eyes smarting, unseeing, and tearful as if an oculist had put caustic eye-drops into them —Boris Pasternak
31. Looked at each other like schoolboys caught masturbating —Lawrence Durrell
32. Looked at each other in a flicker fast as a snake’s tongue —Rosellen Brown
33. Looked at her like she was some kind of Italian sports car and he was ready to drive her —Dialogue from “Murder She Wrote” television drama, broadcast in March 19, 1987,

    The look thus described is attributed to a jealous husband.

34. Looked at her like a bird that has been shot —D. H. Lawrence
35. Looked at him as a guinea pig looks at a big dog —Frank Swinnerton
36. Looked at him as a sergeant in the United States Marines would look at a recruit who had just called a rifle a gun —Norman MacLean
37. Looked at me as if I were a mongrel that had suddenly said, “Hi” —Harold Adams
38. Looked at me as though I had suddenly broke out with a filthy disease —M. C. Blackman
39. Looked at me expectantly as a poodle —Erich Maria Remarque
40. Looked at me intently, as if trying to recall something —Mihail Lermontov
41. Looked at me keenly, like a smart boxer stung in the first round and cagily reappraising the character of his opposition —Robert Traver
42. Looked at me like she was ready to carve my liver —Larry McMurtry
43. Looked at Whistler [character in novel] as if she’d like to crush him with her thighs or smother him with her tits —Robert Campbell
44. Looked at … with an awakened air, as if she were pricking up her ears like a trooper’s horse at the sound of a trumpet —Honoré de Balzac
45. Looked at you without really seeing you, like a TV broadcaster reading the teleprompter —Elyse Sommer
46. Looked him up and down like a sergeant inspecting the ranks —George Garrett
47. Looked knowing and quizzical, like someone smiling with a mouthful of salts —George MacDonald Fraser
48. Looked through us like glass —Alan Williamson
49. Looked towards me as towards a jury —F. Scott Fitzgerald
50. Looking about him as if he had a score to settle —Romain Gary
51. Looking at him with something cold as dislike —Rebecca West
52. (She was) looking at us … like she had emptied her eyes, like she had quit using them —William Faulkner
53. Looking from face to face like he was judge —Jayne Anne Phillips
54. Looking on one another, sideways and crossways, and with lowered eyes, like guilty criminals —Anzia Yezierska
55. A look passed between them, like the silent exchange of two doctors who agree on a simple diagnosis without having to put it in words —Marilyn Sharp
56. Looks black as thunder —J. R. Planche
57. Looks … like the lizard watches the fly —Leslie Silko
58. A look that burned like live coals on our naked bodies —Anzia Yezierska
59. Playing his eyes over the other’s face like the feelers of insects —Arthur A. Cohen
60. Regarded her with raised brows like a doctor who is considering how fully to answer a layman’s question —Saul Bellow
61. Regarded me somberly but warily, as you might examine a particularly ferocious gorilla from the other side of a set of flimsy bars —Harvey Swados
62. She looked at him with that cunning which those who profess unworldliness can wield like a club of stone —Francine du Plessix Gray

    See Also: CLEVERNESS

63. She took him in as if he were frozen in a block of ice or enclosed in a cage of wires —Louise Erdrich
64. That look that seemed to enter him like an enormous jolt of neat whiskey —Daniel Curley
65. The each-for-himself look in the eyes of the people about her were like stinging slaps in the face —Anzia Yezierska
66. Their eyes caromed off each other like the balls on a table —Ed McBain
67. Their eyes rolled like marbles toward one another —Mary Hedin
68. Their glances crossed like blades —Stephen Crane
69. Triumphant look, like the fallen angel restored —D. H. Lawrence
70. A true-felt look … laden with sweetness, white, mesmerizing, like the blossom that hangs from the cherry trees —Edna O’Brien
71. Turned to me in blank apprehension like a blind woman taken by surprise —Ross Macdonald
72. Uncomprehending gaze … like an anxious monkey —Mary Stewart
73. Watching me as though trying to work out a puzzle —C. J. Koch

Translations

looks [lʊks] npl (appearance) → aspetto; (attractiveness) → bellezza
she has kept her (good) looks → è rimasta bella
you can't go by looks → non si può giudicare dalle apparenze