look up

look someone or something up and hunt someone or something up

1. to seek someone, a group, or something out. I lost track of Sally. I'll try to look her up and get in touch with her. lam going to look up an old friend when lam in Chicago. I am going to hunt that old gang up. Ted came into town and looked up his favorite pizza place.

2. to seek information about someone or something in a book or listing. I don't recognize his name. I'll look him up and see what I can find. I'll look up this person in a reference book. She looked herself up in the telephone book to make sure her name was spelled correctly.

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look up

to show promise of improving. My prospects for a job are looking up. Conditions are looking up.

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look up (from something)

to gaze upwards; to stop reading or working and lift one's gaze upward. She looked up from her reading and spoke to us. Mary looked up as we came into the room.

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look somebody up also look up somebody

to visit someone Look me up the next time you're in Los Angeles. I hope you'll look up my niece while you're in Pittsburgh.

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look something up also look up something

to check a fact or get information about something If you don't know the meaning of the word, look it up in your dictionary. The research involved looking up how my opponent voted.

See also: look, up