look up
Britishverb
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(tr) to discover (something required to be known) by resorting to a work of reference, such as a dictionary
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(intr) to increase, as in quality or value
things are looking up
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to have respect (for)
I've always wanted a girlfriend I could look up to
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(tr) to visit or make contact with (a person)
I'll look you up when I'm in town
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Search for in a book or other source, as in I told her to look up the word in the dictionary . [Late 1600s]
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Call on or visit, as in I'm going to look up my friend in Chicago . [Mid-1800s]
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Become better, improve, as in Business is finally looking up . [c. 1800]
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look up to . Admire, respect, as in The students really looked up to Mr. Jones . [Early 1700s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sam looked up from his trucks with surprise.
From Literature
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She didn’t bother to look up from the book on sharks she was reading.
From Literature
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“Bat, can you look up at my face?”
From Literature
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Orville Payne was a tall man—so tall that when I looked up at him I could see clear inside his nostrils.
From Literature
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The golden retriever looked up at him with a wounded expression.
From Literature
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.