1 [count] : the act of looking at something — usually singular ▪ A quick look inside someone's refrigerator can tell you a lot about that person. ▪ Come on inside. Take a look around. ▪ She went inside the building to have a look around. ▪ I wanted to get a look inside the car's engine. — often + at ▪ Just take/have a look at this! ▪ It's our first chance to get a look at the new library. ▪ The witness wasn't able to describe the killer because she didn't get a good look at him. [=she didn't see him clearly] ▪ We took one look at the weather and decided to stay home. [=when we saw how bad the weather was we immediately decided to stay home] 2 [count] : the act of examining or considering something — usually singular ▪ movies that are worth a look [=movies that you should consider seeing because they are good, entertaining, etc.] — usually + at ▪ The report takes a close/revealing/hard look at the public school system. ▪ We need to take a closer look at these issues. 3 [singular] : the act of trying to find something or someone
▪ I don't think you left it here, but I'll take a look around for it. ▪ I took a quick look, but he wasn't there. 4 [count] : the emotions and feelings that can be seen in a person's face or eyes
▪ You should have seen the look [=expression] on her face! ▪ I'll never forget the look in her eyes. ▪ a look of jealousy/pride/remorse ▪ He gave me an angry/dirty look. ▪ They exchanged looks of love. [=they looked at each other lovingly] ▪ I've never seen her so angry. If looks could kill, I'd be dead right now. 5 a [count] : a quality or characteristic that you can see when you look at something : the way that something looks
▪ The painting has an old-fashioned look to it. ▪ The building had the look [=appearance] of a fortress. ▪ a fabric that has the look of leather [=a fabric that has the same appearance as leather] ▪ Judging by/from the look of those clouds, we're going to get some rain. ▪ I don't like the look of those clouds. [=I don't like the way those clouds look; those clouds make me think that there will be a storm, it will rain or snow, etc.] ▪ The restaurant doesn't look very appealing, but looks can be deceiving/deceptive. [=something can be very different from how it seems or appears to be] ▪ From the look of things, that car won't last much longer. [=that car seems unlikely to last much longer]
b looks [plural] : physical appearance
▪ Everyone says he's handsome, but I wasn't impressed by his looks. ; especially : attractive physical appearance
▪ She's very pretty, but she's not going to get by just on her looks. ▪ He had boyish good looks. ▪ She's worried about losing her looks [=becoming less attractive] as she grows older.
c [count] : a style or fashion — usually singular ▪ a new look in women's fashion ▪ They wanted the right look for the company's new logo.