Look-see

noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A brief examination, a peek or glance. informal

    "I’ve had a look-see at your work, and I think you’ve done a pretty good job of things."

  2. 2
    A person who serves as lookout or scout.

    "Once we have them localized, I can send in some look-sees to get a better idea of how many and whether there's actually a nuke in there with them."

  3. 3
    An audition attended by an actor or model so that they can be visually appraised.

    "The basic use of the comp is to allow an art or casting director to select the model type needed for a particular assignment. This is generally followed by a casting call or a "look-see" for a more detailed evaluation of the models."

Verb
  1. 1
    To make a quick inspection, especially as a lookout or scout. intransitive, transitive

    "I told Kola and he went down in the p.m. to look-see."

Synonyms

All synonyms
go-seestickybeak

Example

More examples

"I’ve had a look-see at your work, and I think you’ve done a pretty good job of things."

Etymology

Borrowed from Chinese Pidgin English look-see.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.