underlook

English

Etymology

From Middle English underloken (“to be suspicious of; look at with mistrust”), equivalent to under- +‎ look.

Pronunciation

• (noun)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʌndɚlʊk/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʌndəlʊk/
• (verb)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ʌndɚˈlʊk/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʌndəˈlʊk/

• Audio (US):

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Noun

underlook (plural underlooks)

1. (rare) A concealed or oblique glance.
   • 1884, M. L. O'Byrne, Ill-won Peerages, Or, An Unhallowed Union, page 427:

     […] exultingly cried Lord Carhampton, stealing an underlook at Maurice O'Driscoll, whom ^[sic] he knew was wont to boast of his Milesian lineage; […]

   • 1973, Jack Kerouac, Visions of Cody, New Directions, →ISBN:

     […] rubbing his hands busily, rocking back and forth with one foot in front of the other, his head down but watching Watson with an underlook that was very arrogant, cocky, […]

Verb

underlook (third-person singular simple present underlooks, present participle underlooking, simple past and past participle underlooked) (transitive, rare)

1. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) To be suspicious or mistrustful of.
   • 1829 July 11, William Cobbett, “To John Murray”, in Cobbett's Political Register, volume 68, page 46:

     Stupid Scotchman! grizzly-headed and underlooking Sawney!

2. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) To look underneath.
3. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) To look up at from below.
   • 1873, A.D.T. Whitney, The Other Girls, page 242:

     Upon a rough table-ledge, they came to it at last; the place where they could lean in between the trees, and overlook and underlook [the waterfall].

   • 2016, John Carter, Gullible's Travels: Tales by an International Towel Thief, pages 194-195:

     On this occasion at the Mamounia in Marrakesh, we occupied a room underlooking the garden — yes, 'underlooking', for we were just below ground level in a room with a wall that sloped outwards and up to a reinforced glass ceiling.

4. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) To fail to notice because one is looking too low (found in complement with overlook, as if it meant "to fail to notice because one is looking too high").
   • 2020, Vera Ferreira et al., “Stakeholders' Engagement on Nature-Based Solutions: A Systematic Literature Review”, in Sustainability, volume 12, number 620, page 19:

     Existing review research has focused on specific terms, underlooking important developments in the area.

   • 1950, Hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Eighty-First Congress, Second Session, volume 2, page 2656:

     The CHAIRMAN. I am not overlooking anything. I am just making inquiry of you for information.
     Mr. THOMSON. I know you do not overlook anything.
     The CHAIRMAN. I am not overlooking or underlooking, but just listening to you and trying to get your viewpoint.

5. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) To look intently at or into; scrutinize; inspect.
   • 1709, Edmund Hickeringill, “The Black Nonconformist”, in The Works of the Reverend Mr Edm. Hickeringill, page 36:

     […] they would be Shepherds and feed his Sheep, and anoint them for the Scab, and underlook them, but not worry them, nor destroy them […]

6. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) To fail to give due worth or respect to.
   • 2016, H. F. Heard, The Great Fog: And Other Weird Tales:

     "Do you remember Calkin's story about the quarrel he overheard—and underlooked?"

Antonyms

• overlook