▪ I. overlook, n.
(ˈəʊvəlʊk)
[over- 16, 7, 5.]
1. The action or an act of overlooking (see next, 3–6); a glance or survey; inspection or superintendence.
| 1584 Lodge Hist. Forbonius & Prisc. (Shaks. Soc. 1853) 84 Our noble young gentleman, having past over many personages with a slight over looke. 1865 Mrs. Whitney Gayworthys I. 226 This typified properly her social position of overlook and scrutiny. |
b. A look down from a height upon the scene below; a place that affords such a view.
| 1861 L. L. Noble Icebergs 37 Paths wound among rocky notches and grassy chasms, and led out to dizzy ‘over-looks’, and ‘short-offs’. 1884 Lit. World (U.S.) 23 Feb. 51/3 High overlooks upon the smiling valley. |
c. Name in Jamaica for the leguminous plant Canavalia ensiformis: see quot.
| 1837 Macfadyen Flora of Jamaica I. 292 They are commonly planted, by the Negroes, along the margin of their provision grounds, from a superstitious notion..that the Overlook fulfils the part of a watchman, and..protects the provisions from plunder. 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Canavalia. |
2. An act of overlooking (see next, 2); a failure to see or notice something; an oversight.
| 1887 T. Bayne in Athenæum 9 July 62/3 When his attention is thus called to a manifest overlook. 1897 R. Munro Prehist. Prob. 264 Simply an overlook on my part. |
▪ II. overlook, v.
(əʊvəˈlʊk)
[f. over- + look v.]
1. trans. To look over the top of, so as to see what is beyond. [over- 5.]
| 1559–60 Cott. Libr. Cal. B. ix, Use ws as a fote stole to overloke ȝow. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry ii. vii. (1660) 85 The walls of townes were but low,..the walls of Winchester..were overlooked by Colebrand the Chieftaine of the Danes. 1863 Hawthorne Our Old Home (1883) I. 215 The wall was just too high to be overlooked. |
| fig. 1636 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 160 If great men be kind to you, I pray you overlook them;..Christ but borroweth their face to smile through them upon His afflicted servant. |
b. fig. To rise above, overtop.
| 1567 Turberv. Epitaphs &c., Time conquereth all Things 70 b, It makes the Oke to ouerlooke the slender shrubs bylow. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. v. 9 Our Syens..Spirt vp so suddenly into the Clouds, And ouer-looke their Grafters. 1700 Dryden Iliad i. 827 The laughing Nectar overlook'd the Lid. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. iii. (1804) 10 A..hat, whose crown over-looked the brims about an inch and a half. |
2. To look over and beyond and thus not see; to fail to see or observe; to pass over without notice (intentionally or unintentionally); to take no notice of, leave out of consideration, disregard, ignore. (The chief current sense.) [over- 5.]
| 1524 Q. Margaret to Hen. VIII (MS. Cott. Calig. B. 1, lf. 216 b) (cf. Mrs. Wood Lett. Illust. Ladies I. 326) Wylke wol be grett danger to ye Kyng my sonis parson, and thys tyme be owr lokyd. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xvi. 9 Our Lordis ar blinde and dois ouerluik it. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. v. 147 He overlooks those gross Absurdities that are so conspicuous in it. 1762 Hume Hist. Eng. I. iii. 98 The French..found it prudent to overlook this insult. 1829 K. Digby Broadst. Hon., Godefridus I. 240 Agesilaus punished great men for the same faults which he overlooked in their inferiors. 1872 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxvi. 7 He oversees all and overlooks none. |
† b. refl. ? To fail to perceive one's duty; to forget oneself; = oversee v. 7. Obs.
| 1723–4 Dk. Wharton True Briton No. 65 II. 550 Vex'd that I..should have overlooked myself so far as to have given any Room [etc.]. |
3. To look (a thing) over or through; to examine, scrutinize, inspect, ‘survey’; to peruse, read through. Now rare or arch. [over- 16.]
| c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 232 Whan I had redde thys tale wel And ouer loked hyt euerydel. 1546 Supplic. Poore Commons (E.E.T.S.) 69 Youre Highnes..appoynted two of them to ouer loke the translation of the Bible. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. ii. 50 And yet I would I had ore-look'd the Letter. 1674 S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 249, I have..transited Decimals..and shall now..overlook Logarithmes. 1744–91 Wesley Wks. (1872) VIII. 319 To over-look the accounts of all the Stewards. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. iv. 115 Carefully O'erlooked the wound and cleansed it from the blood. |
4. To look down upon; to survey from above, or from a higher position. [over- 7.]
| a 1425 Cursor M. 8211 (Trin.) God þat al haþ to kepe And al ouerlokeþ in his siȝt. 1530 Palsgr. 648/1, I overlooke, je regarde par dessus. 1667 Dryden Wild Gallant iii. i, Have you no more manners than to overlook a man when he's a writing? 1741–3 Wesley Extract of Jrnl. (1749) 60 At dinner their little table, and chairs were set..where they could be overlooked. 1852 I. Pfeiffer Journ. Iceland 32, I went on deck and overlooked the boundless waters. |
| fig. 1631 May tr. Barclay's Mirr. Mindes i. 284 From hence, hee..began with a scornefull pride to ouerlooke the wealth of Europe. |
b. Of a place: To afford or command a view of.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 494 Goatfield Hill..ouer-looketh our Westerne Continent. 1634 Brereton Trav. (Chetham) 44 To build a chamber, which may command and overlook the river. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 259 The pump room windows overlook the King's Bath. 1895 Scot. Antiq. X. 80 The brow of the hill overlooking the Nairn valley. |
† 5. fig. To ‘look down upon’ as from a higher social or intellectual position; to despise; to treat with contempt, to slight. Obs.
| 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles ii. 35 Thus leuerez ouere-loked ȝoure liegis.. busshid with her brestis, and bare adoune the pouere. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 429 Þogh he iette forth a-mong þe prees, And ouer loke euerey pore wight. 1534 More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1200/1 An whole floud of all vnhappy mischief, arrogant maner..ouerlooking the poore in woorde and countenance. 1646 H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 170 To be supercilious, to overlooke men, and little things. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Phil. II. xxi. 420 The success of the present age..is very apt to elate the minds of men, and make them overlook the ancients. |
6. To watch over officially, keep an eye on, look after, superintend, oversee. [over- 7.]
| 1532 G. Hervet Xenophon's Househ. (1768) 20 They that occupy housebandrye..with ouer lokynge and takynge hede to other mens warkes. 1605 Play Stucley in Simpson Sch. Shaks. I. 260 And lest they loiter we ourself in person Will overlook them. 1650 Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man bec. Guilty 340 He was overlooking his harvest men..judging their labour by their sheaves. 1798 Washington Writ. (1893) XIV. 85 For overlooking this farm I would stretch the wages to {pstlg}45. c 1830 Mrs. Cameron Village Nurse 2 Mary Read had little else to do than overlook the other servants. |
7. To look upon with the ‘evil eye’; to bewitch. (The most common word for this in popular use.)
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 15 Beshrow your eyes, They haue ore-lookt me and deuided me. 1598 ― Merry W. v. v. 87 Vilde worme, thou wast ore-look'd euen in thy birth. 1697 W. Dampier in Phil. Trans. XX. 51 They..told them, they were Over-look'd by some unlucky Person. 1825 Sporting Mag. XVI. 342 ‘I wish’, said the man, ‘we may not be overlooked’. 1887 Jessopp Arcady ii. 59 [The] firm belief in being ‘overlooked’ is very much more common..than is generally supposed. 1895 Elworthy Evil Eye i. 11 In England, of all animals the pig is oftenest ‘overlooked’. |
8. To look or appear more than. nonce-use.
| 1822 Byron Let. to J. Murray 23 Sept., My mind misgives me that it [the bust] is hideously like. If it is, I can not be long for this world, for it overlooks seventy. |
Hence overlooked (-ˈlʊkt) ppl. a. (usually in sense 2); overˈlooking vbl. n. and ppl. a. (in various senses of the vb.).
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 264/1 An Over lokynge, horoscopium, .i. horarum speculacio. 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. i. 45 His sole childe my Lord, and bequeathed to my ouer looking. 1674 Boyle Excell. Theol. i. i. 45 Unheeded prophecies, overlooked mysteries, and strange harmonies. 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer i. i, I wou'd justle a proud, strutting, over-looking Coxcomb, at the head of his Sycophants. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 169 ¶10 This Part of Good-nature..which consists in the pardoning and overlooking of Faults. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. i. 14, I found an overlooked godsend this morning. 1898 Moule Coloss. Stud. ii. 22 Habituated to the scenery of its..rushing river and..overlooking hills. |