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Seek

//siːk// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from German.
Noun
  1. 1
    The operation of navigating through a stream.

    "The number of seeks to retrieve a shot […] depends on the location of those frames on physical blocks."

  2. 2
    Obsolete form of Sikh. alt-of, obsolete
  3. 3
    the movement of a read/write head to a specific data track on a disk wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To try to find; to look for; to search for. ambitransitive

    "I seek wisdom."

  2. 2
    inquire for wordnet
  3. 3
    To ask for; to solicit; to beseech. transitive

    "I seek forgiveness through repentance."

  4. 4
    try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of wordnet
  5. 5
    To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at. transitive

    "I sought my fortune on the goldfields."

Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    go to or towards wordnet
  2. 7
    To go, move, travel (in a given direction). intransitive, obsolete

    "Ryght so he sought[…]towarde Sandewyche where he founde before hym many galyard knyghtes"

  3. 8
    try to get or reach wordnet
  4. 9
    To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to. transitive

    "When the alarm went off I sought the exit in a panic."

  5. 10
    make an effort or attempt wordnet
  6. 11
    To attempt, endeavour, try intransitive, proscribed, sometimes

    "Our company does not seek to limit its employees from using the internet or engaging in social networking."

  7. 12
    To navigate through a data stream. intransitive

    "Most of the changes made to this control are to accommodate the various constraints that playback of streaming media may impose in broadcast streams, such as the inability to seek through the media."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English seken (also sechen, whence dialectal English seech), from Old English sēċan (compare beseech); from Proto-West Germanic *sōkijan, from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to seek”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to seek out”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian säike (“to seek”), West Frisian sykje (“to seek”), Dutch zoeken (“to seek”), Low German söken (“to seek”), German suchen (“to seek”), Danish søge (“to seek”), Swedish söka, Norwegian Bokmål søke (“to seek”), Norwegian Nynorsk søkja (“to seek”), Icelandic sækja (“to seek”). The Middle English and later Modern English hard /k/ derives from Old English sēcð, the third person singular; the forms with /k/ were then reinforced by cognate Old Norse sǿkja.

Etymology 2

From Middle English seken (also sechen, whence dialectal English seech), from Old English sēċan (compare beseech); from Proto-West Germanic *sōkijan, from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to seek”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to seek out”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian säike (“to seek”), West Frisian sykje (“to seek”), Dutch zoeken (“to seek”), Low German söken (“to seek”), German suchen (“to seek”), Danish søge (“to seek”), Swedish söka, Norwegian Bokmål søke (“to seek”), Norwegian Nynorsk søkja (“to seek”), Icelandic sækja (“to seek”). The Middle English and later Modern English hard /k/ derives from Old English sēcð, the third person singular; the forms with /k/ were then reinforced by cognate Old Norse sǿkja.

Etymology 3

* As a North/Low German surname, from Seek, variant of Seeck, shortened from compound names containing the element Sieg (“victory”) (as in Siegfried) or siech (“ill”). * As a Chinese surname, Romanized from 薛 (xuē), see Xue.

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