seek definition

English seek definition

Alternative forms

• seeke (obsolete)

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 West Frisian sykje, Dutch zoeken, Low German söken, German suchen, Danish søge, Icelandic sækja, Norwegian Bokmål søke, Norwegian Nynorsk søkja, Swedish söka. 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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sēk, IPA^(key): /siːk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: Sikh
• Rhymes: -iːk

Verb

seek (third-person singular simple present seeks, present participle seeking, simple past and past participle sought)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To try to find; to look for; to search for.

   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 ask for; to solicit; to beseech.

   I seek forgiveness through repentance.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 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.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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).
   • 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:

     Ryght so he sought […] towarde Sandewyche where he founde before hym many galyard knyghtes

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. (transitive) To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to.

   When the alarm went off I sought the exit in a panic.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 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.

   • 1725, Homer, “Book II”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, line 33:

     Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains

6. (intransitive, sometimes proscribed) To attempt, endeavour, try

   Our company does not seek to limit its employees from using the internet or engaging in social networking.

7. (intransitive, computing) To navigate through a stream.

   Synonym: scrub

   • 2009, Jit Ghosh, Rob Cameron, Silverlight 2 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach, page 541:

     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.

Usage notes

• The word is sometimes used to mean "try" or "want". This usage is criticized by Fowler in the entry "Formal Words".

Conjugation

Quotations

For more quotations using this term, see Citations:seek.

Synonyms

• look for
• search

Derived terms

Related terms

• hide and seek
• seeker

Translations

Noun

seek (plural seeks)

1. (computing) The operation of navigating through a stream.
   • 2012, Aidong Zhang, Avi Silberschatz, Sharad Mehrotra, Continuous Media Databases, page 120:

     The number of seeks to retrieve a shot […] depends on the location of those frames on physical blocks.

Anagrams

• eeks, ekes, kees, seke, skee

Estonian seek definition

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German sêkhûs (“hospital”) (equivalent to sêk +‎ hûs). From Proto-West Germanic *seuk, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *seukaz (“sick”). Compare German Siechenhaus (“infirmary”), English sickhouse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈseːk/
• Rhymes: -eːk
• Hyphenation: seek

Noun

seek (genitive seegi, partitive seeki)

1. almshouse
   1. A residence and shelter for sick people in the Middle Ages.
   2. (colloquial) A nursing home, retirement home; poorhouse

Declension

References

• seek in Sõnaveeb