"be on the lookout" meaning in English

See be on the lookout in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: be on the lookouts [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|head=be on the lookout}} be on the lookout (plural be on the lookouts)
  1. BOLO.
    Sense id: en-be_on_the_lookout-en-noun-iNfw8d0w Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 50 50 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 55 45 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 57 43

Verb

Forms: is on the lookout [present, singular, third-person], being on the lookout [participle, present], was on the lookout [past], been on the lookout [participle, past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|be<is,being,was,been> on the lookout|head=be on the lookout}} be on the lookout (third-person singular simple present is on the lookout, present participle being on the lookout, simple past was on the lookout, past participle been on the lookout)
  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see be, on the lookout. Synonyms: be-on-the-lookout, Be On the Lookout, Be on the Lookout, Be On The Lookout, Be On the Look Out
    Sense id: en-be_on_the_lookout-en-verb-wbvR81hK Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 50 50 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 55 45

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "be on the lookouts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "be on the lookout"
      },
      "expansion": "be on the lookout (plural be on the lookouts)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "50 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "55 45",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "57 43",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1988, Arrest Law Bulletin, page 106:",
          "text": "Hoadley issued a \"be on the lookout\" (\"BOLO\"), describing the person as a tall, thin, black male, wearing light colored clothing and traveling on foot.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Kären M. Hess, Christine Hess Orthmann, Henry Lim Cho, Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, page 131:",
          "text": "Examples of the types of information disseminated at roll call include known warrants, “be on the lookouts” or BOLOs, runaways, and administrative requests and communications.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Noel T. Skippings, Birds of Terror:",
          "text": "The wanted announcement and the be on the lookout for Salerno Bondi, (BOLO) was aired on radio and television, and all points bulletins were put out for police on patrol to be on the lookout for Salerno.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017, Dr. Jeffrey C. Fox, The Ultimate Guide to Being a Great Police Officer:",
          "text": "I put out a “be on the lookout” for a lady in a blue dress.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "BOLO."
      ],
      "id": "en-be_on_the_lookout-en-noun-iNfw8d0w",
      "links": [
        [
          "BOLO",
          "BOLO"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "be on the lookout"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "is on the lookout",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "being on the lookout",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "was on the lookout",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "been on the lookout",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "be on the lookout (third-person singular simple present is on the lookout, present participle being on the lookout, simple past was on the lookout, past participle been on the lookout)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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          "ref": "2015, Noel T. Skippings, Birds of Terror:",
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          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see be, on the lookout."
      ],
      "id": "en-be_on_the_lookout-en-verb-wbvR81hK",
      "links": [
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          "be",
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        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "17 83",
          "word": "be-on-the-lookout"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "17 83",
          "word": "Be On the Lookout"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "17 83",
          "word": "Be on the Lookout"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "17 83",
          "word": "Be On The Lookout"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "17 83",
          "word": "Be On the Look Out"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "be on the lookout"
}
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  "categories": [
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "be on the lookouts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "be on the lookout"
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  "lang_code": "en",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1988, Arrest Law Bulletin, page 106:",
          "text": "Hoadley issued a \"be on the lookout\" (\"BOLO\"), describing the person as a tall, thin, black male, wearing light colored clothing and traveling on foot.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Kären M. Hess, Christine Hess Orthmann, Henry Lim Cho, Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, page 131:",
          "text": "Examples of the types of information disseminated at roll call include known warrants, “be on the lookouts” or BOLOs, runaways, and administrative requests and communications.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Noel T. Skippings, Birds of Terror:",
          "text": "The wanted announcement and the be on the lookout for Salerno Bondi, (BOLO) was aired on radio and television, and all points bulletins were put out for police on patrol to be on the lookout for Salerno.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017, Dr. Jeffrey C. Fox, The Ultimate Guide to Being a Great Police Officer:",
          "text": "I put out a “be on the lookout” for a lady in a blue dress.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "BOLO."
      ],
      "links": [
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      "word": "be-on-the-lookout"
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    {
      "word": "Be On the Lookout"
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    {
      "word": "Be on the Lookout"
    },
    {
      "word": "Be On The Lookout"
    },
    {
      "word": "Be On the Look Out"
    }
  ],
  "word": "be on the lookout"
}

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    "Pages with entries"
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      "form": "is on the lookout",
      "tags": [
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    },
    {
      "form": "being on the lookout",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "was on the lookout",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "been on the lookout",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "be<is,being,was,been> on the lookout",
        "head": "be on the lookout"
      },
      "expansion": "be on the lookout (third-person singular simple present is on the lookout, present participle being on the lookout, simple past was on the lookout, past participle been on the lookout)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
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        {
          "ref": "2015, Noel T. Skippings, Birds of Terror:",
          "text": "The wanted announcement and the be on the lookout for Salerno Bondi, (BOLO) was aired on radio and television, and all points bulletins were put out for police on patrol to be on the lookout for Salerno.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see be, on the lookout."
      ],
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        ],
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          "on the lookout",
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    {
      "word": "be-on-the-lookout"
    },
    {
      "word": "Be On the Lookout"
    },
    {
      "word": "Be on the Lookout"
    },
    {
      "word": "Be On The Lookout"
    },
    {
      "word": "Be On the Look Out"
    }
  ],
  "word": "be on the lookout"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.