seek
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: sēk
ipa: /siːk/
homophone: Sikh
rhymes: -iːk
Forms: form: seeks
form: seeking
form: sought
form: sought
form: seeked
form: seeked
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: seek
form: seek
form: sought
form: seek
form: seekest
form: sought
form: soughtest
form: seeks
form: seeketh
form: sought
form: seek
form: sought
form: seek
form: sought
form: seek
form: -
form: seeking
form: sought
form: seech
form: seeke
Etymology: From Middle English seken (also sechen, whence dialectal English seech), from Old English sēċan (compare beseech); from Proto-West Germanic *sōkijan, from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to seek”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to seek out”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian säike (“to seek”), West Frisian sykje (“to seek”), Dutch zoeken (“to seek”), Low German söken (“to seek”), German suchen (“to seek”), Danish søge (“to seek”), Swedish söka, Norwegian Bokmål søke (“to seek”), Norwegian Nynorsk søkja (“to seek”), Icelandic sækja (“to seek”). The Middle English and later Modern English hard /k/ derives from Old English sēcð, the third person singular; the forms with /k/ were then reinforced by cognate Old Norse sǿkja.
Senses: examples: text: I seek wisdom.
text: Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.[…]A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.
ref: 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
synonyms: look for
search for
glosses: To try to find; to look for; to search for.
examples: text: I seek forgiveness through repentance.
text: Others, tempting him, sought of him a sign.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke xi:16:
text: “My, my! It is indeed a long way yet, look you!” said the pleasant woman of whom I sought directions.
ref: 1960, Lobsang Rampa, The Rampa Story:
glosses: To ask for; to solicit; to beseech.
examples: text: I sought my fortune on the goldfields.
text: But persecution sought the lives of men of this character.
ref: 1880, George Q. Cannon, How the Gospel is Preached By the Elders, etc.:
text: I can no longer seek fame or glory, nor can I help trying to get rid of my riches, which separate me from my fellow-creatures.
ref: 1886, Constantine Popoff, translation of Leo Tolstoy's What I Believe
text: Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.[…]She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at.
examples: text: Ryght so he sought[…]towarde Sandewyche where he founde before hym many galyard knyghtes
ref: 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:
glosses: To go, move, travel (in a given direction).
examples: text: When the alarm went off I sought the exit in a panic.
text: Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Amos 5:5:
text: Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains
ref: 1725, Homer, “Book II”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 56, line 33:
glosses: To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to.
examples: text: Our company does not seek to limit its employees from using the internet or engaging in social networking.
glosses: To attempt, endeavour, try
examples: text: Most of the changes made to this control are to accommodate the various constraints that playback of streaming media may impose in broadcast streams, such as the inability to seek through the media.
ref: 2009, Jit Ghosh, Rob Cameron, Silverlight 2 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach, page 541:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
synonyms: scrub
glosses: To navigate through a data stream.
Derived terms: aseek
attention-seeking
beseek
foreseek
forseek
hide and go seek
hide and seek
ideal-seeking behavior
misseek
north-seeking pole
outseek
rent seeking
seek a knot in a bulrush
seek and ye shall find
seek for
seek-no-further
seek one's virtuous couch
seek out
seek time
south-seeking pole
underseek
upseek
Related terms: hide and seek
seeker