on the lookout

1. Also, on the watch. Vigilant, alert, as in Be on the lookout for the twins—they're somewhere on this playground, or He was on the watch for her arrival. Both phrases were originally used with upon. Upon the lookout was originally nautical usage, meaning “on duty being watchful” (as for another ship, rocks, or land); it appeared in the mid-1700s, and on replaced upon about a century later. Upon the watch was first recorded in Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719), and on the watch in Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility (1797).

Example Sentences

“And what of all those frightening things she told me about the children being in danger, with dire fates foretold, curses upon their heads, and so on? Not to mention her insistence that I keep my hair dyed this drab, dark color. ‘Be on the lookout for unexpected events,’ she said, but surely that is impractical advice.

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Investors will on the lookout for any commentary from Furner and Fiddelke that could give them more clues on their visions for the two retailers.

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However, “I would actually be on the lookout for a bit of profit-taking to take prices back down to near $4,000/oz in coming days and weeks,” Razaqzada says.

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BofA analysts aren’t the only ones on the lookout for non-tech stocks.

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Wall Street analysts will be on the lookout for five clues in particular for investors that a comeback may be in the works.

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Related Words

• active 
• bright 
• careful 
• intelligent 
• observant 
• perceptive 
• sharp 
• vigilant 
• wary 
• watchful 
• wired 
• wise