look-over

[ look-oh-ver ]

noun

1. a brief or superficial examination or reading.

look over

verb

1. intr, preposition to inspect by making a tour of (a factory, house, etc)

   we looked over the country house

2. tr, adverb to examine (a document, letter, etc)

   please look the papers over quickly

noun

1. an inspection: often, specifically, a brief or cursory one

Word History and Origins

Origin of look-over¹

First recorded in 1905–10; noun use of verb phrase look over

Idioms and Phrases

Also, look up and down . Examine or inspect something or someone. For example, Jerry was looking over the books when he found an error , or They looked the new boy up and down . The first expression dates from the mid-1400s, the variant from the late 1800s.

Example Sentences

I felt Neil was always Neil, and you had to look over his shoulder to see Hedwig.

From The Daily Beast

Then, we would look over a place that on a September day in 1862 became hell on earth, but was now a pristine shrine to the dead.

From The Daily Beast

We did look over the rental property, and I explained how we could accomplish the deed with the least resistance.

From The Daily Beast

There are no smiles, and they rarely take their eyes off the witness box to look over at the defendant.

From The Daily Beast

I think a better judgment would be to look over the 260,000 cables and exclude those which on their surface are dangerous.

From The Daily Beast

Let us look over these points again, and make the matter still clearer and more simple.

From Project Gutenberg

As soon as he got back from the hunt, he went off to look over the farm to see if the hemp was growing well.

From Project Gutenberg

It is rude to look over the shoulder of a person who is either reading or writing, yet it is done every day.

From Project Gutenberg

You may open a book to look over the engravings, if you will, but do not attend to the letter-press until you are alone.

From Project Gutenberg

From the bench you would look over the pool and up the slope through the orchard to the house entrance.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• analysis
• checkup
• inquiry
• investigation
• probe
• research
• review
• scrutiny
• search
• supervision
• surveillance
• survey