the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually
"he went out to have a look"
"his look was fixed on her eyes"
"he gave it a good looking at"
"his camera does his looking for him"
the act of searching visually
"I spent hours looking through every drawer until I finally found my missing keys."
The act of one who looks; a glance.
"His sharp looking caught the thief in the alley before he could escape."
In plain English: Looking is the act of directing your eyes toward something to see it.
"The whole crew is on looking for survivors after the boat sank."
Usage: In everyday usage, "looking" is almost exclusively an adjective describing appearance or a verb in progress, not a standalone noun. Avoid using it to mean "a glance," as the correct single-word noun for that action is "look."
present participle of look
"She was looking out the window when I called her name."
In plain English: To look means to use your eyes to see something or someone.
"She was looking for her keys in the dark room."
Usage: Use "looking" to describe the ongoing action of directing your eyes toward something or someone. It functions as a continuous verb form, such as in "She is looking for her keys."
Looking comes from the Middle English word lokynge, which evolved directly from the Old English verb meaning "to look." The form simply adds the suffix -ing to indicate that someone is in the act of looking at something.