# looking

Pronunciation: say "LUUK-ing" /ˈlʊkɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle of look. — present participle and gerund of look
   - Simple: Present participle of look. Use this form for something happening right now, often after 'is' or 'are'.
   - _He stood at the gate, looking down the empty road._
   - _Looking through old letters made her smile all afternoon._
2. Used as the final part of compound adjectives to mean having a particular appearance.
   - Simple: Used at the end of a word to tell how someone or something appears.
   - _The inspector found a healthy-looking crop in every field he visited._
   - _He drove up in an expensive-looking car none of us recognized._

## Noun

3. The action of directing one's eyes toward something; a glance.
   - Simple: The act of using your eyes to see something, or a quick look.
   - _A careful looking over the contract revealed a hidden clause near the end._
   - _Her constant looking at the clock showed just how bored she was._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2** — This developed from Middle English lokynge, going back to Old English lōciende, the present participle of lōcian ("to look"); it is essentially look plus -ing.
**Meaning 3** — This developed from Middle English lokynge, from Old English lōcung (seen in the Old English word þurhlōcung), equivalent to look plus -ing.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/looking (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).