look-see

look-see noun: a brief examination, a peek or glance.

Noun

look-see (plural look-sees)

(informal) A brief examination, a peek or glance.
- I’ve had a look-see at your work, and I think you’ve done a pretty good job of things.
- I'll just take a look-see at the problem and come right back, then we can go to lunch.
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.2013, Jack Campbell, The Lost Fleet
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.2005, Lynne Warren, Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography, page 489
- J. is dating P. at NYU and modeling on the side. They're planning to meet us in Paris for spring break so J. can go to some look-sees (and eat some escargot, obv.).2007, Melissa de la Cruz, Crazy Hot, page 270
Synonyms:

go-see

look-see (third-person singular simple present look-sees, present participle look-seeing, simple past look-saw, past participle look-seen)

(intransitive, transitive) To make a quick inspection, especially as a lookout or scout.
- I told Kola and he went down in the p.m. to look-see.2015, Zhang Kaiyuan, Donald MacInnis, Eyewitnesses to Massacre
- When I look-saw my brother's sunstone I knew it was mighty powerful magic.2015, John Boom -, The Watch of the Golden Dragon Turtle

He gave me a quick look-see at what they're working on.
‘It’s the first native island I ever called at where the whole tribe didn’t come down to the beach for a look-see.1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 43:
I'm going up in the Cub to take a look-see.1999, Dana Stabenow, Hunter's Moon, →ISBN, page 33:
Then read through the sides with the actors, unless they're on a look-see.2012, Jackie Collins, Hollywood Kids:

Noun
plural	look-sees
alternative form	looksee
alternative form	looksie
alternative form	looksy
Verb
third-person singular present	look-sees
present participle	look-seeing
past	look-saw
past participle	look-seen

Borrowed from Chinese Pidgin English look-see.

What does look-see mean?: Look-see means a brief examination, a peek or glance.
How do you use look-see in a sentence?: He gave me a quick look-see at what they're working on.
What part of speech is look-see?: Look-see can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of look-see?: The plural of look-see is look-sees.

Adapted from Wiktionary: look-see (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “look-see.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/look-see. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.