Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Seek

Seek

,
Adj.
Sick.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Seek

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Sought
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Seeking
.]
[OE.
seken
, AS.
sēcan
,
sēcean
; akin to OS.
sōkian
, LG.
söken
, D.
zoeken
, OHG.
suohhan
, G.
suchen
, Icel.
saekja
, Sw.
söka
, Dan.
söge
, Goth.
sōkjan
, and E.
sake
. Cf.
Beseech
,
Ransack
,
Sagacious
,
Sake
,
Soc
.]
1.
To go in search of; to look for; to search for; to try to find.
The man saked him, saying, What
seekest
thou? And he said, I
seek
my brethren.
Gen. xxxvii. 15, 16.
2.
To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to beseech.
Others, tempting him,
sought
of him a sign.
Luke xi. 16.
3.
To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at;
as, to
seek
wealth or fame; to
seek
one’s life
.
4.
To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to.
Seek
not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal.
Amos v. 5.
Since great Ulysses
sought
the Phrygian plains.
Pope.

Seek

,
Verb.
I.
To make search or inquiry; to endeavor to make discovery.
Seek
ye out of the book of the Lord, and read.
Isa. xxxiv. 16.
To seek
,
needing to seek or search; hence, unprepared.
“Unpracticed, unprepared, and still to seek.”
Milton.
[Obs.]
To seek after
,
to make pursuit of; to attempt to find or take.
To seek for
,
to endeavor to find.
To seek to
,
to apply to; to resort to; to court.
[Obs.]
“All the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom.”
1 Kings x. 24.
To seek upon
,
to make strict inquiry after; to follow up; to persecute.
[Obs.]
To seek

Upon
a man and do his soul unrest.
Chaucer.

Webster 1828 Edition


Seek

SEEK

,
Verb.
T.
pret and pp. sought, pronounced sawt. [L. sequor, to follow; for to seek is to go after, and the primary sense is to advance, to press, to drive forward, as in the L. peto.]
1. To go in searh or quest of; to look for; to search for by going from place to place.
The man asked him, saying, what seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethen.
Gen. 37.
2. To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to endeavor to find or gain by any means.
The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. Ps. 104.
He found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Heb. 12

Definition 2024


seek

seek

See also: sek

English

Verb

Lua error in Module:links at line 89: attempt to index local 'target' (a number value)

  1. (transitive) To try to find, to look for, to search.
    I seek wisdom.
    • 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
      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.
  2. (transitive) To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to beseech.
    I seek forgiveness through prayer.
    • Bible, Luke xi. 16
      Others, tempting him, sought of him a sign.
    • 1960, Lobsang Rampa, The Rampa Story:
      “My, my! It is indeed a long way yet, look you!” said the pleasant woman of whom I sought directions.
  3. (transitive) To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at.
    I sought my fortune on the goldfields.
    • 1880, George Q. Cannon, How the Gospel is Preached By the Elders, etc.:
      But persecution sought the lives of men of this character.
    • 1886, Constantine Popoff, translation of Leo Tolstoy's What I Believe:
      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.
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
      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.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To go, move, travel (in a given direction).
    When the alarm went off I sought the exit in a panic.
  5. (transitive) To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to.
    • 1611, Bible (KJV), Amos 5:5::
      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.
    • 1726 (tr.), Alexander Pope, Homer's Odyssey, Book II, line 33
      Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains

Quotations

For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:seek.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams