Can "look" be transitive in the meaning "look at"?

Question

For example:

He examined the body indifferently, much like one would look a dead animal on a roadside.

I would like to know if to look can be employed transitively like this. I'm sure I've read it used in this way before, but my search was inconclusive. (I know I could write "look at" or "look over", but I'm curious about that particular possibility in the example.)

That is not a usage I've ever seen before. Looks quite bizarre to me. Of course you can look worried/happy/odd/a mess, etc., but that's a different sense of the verb look. — Janus Bahs Jacquet, Jun 27 '14 at 22:56
The active volitional sense verb look, like listen, requires a preposition with their object. Look takes at, while listen takes to. — John Lawler, Jun 27 '14 at 23:13
@JohnLawler Modulo frozen fossils like look daggers at someone. — tchrist, Jun 27 '14 at 23:35

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 27 '14 at 22:57

2

No. Though it would probably be understood, native speakers would regard it as a mistake.

answered Jun 27 '14 at 22:57

Erik Kowal

26,806

I figured it was probably be a mistake, thanks for clarifying =) – Marcus Jun 27 '14 at 23:10

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 28 '14 at 02:52

Using look as a transitive verb is so easily understood that I suspect it will be an accepted usage in a decade or so. I've lived through so many meanings of virtual that I've lost count. Language changes and those great marks you (or I) earned in English grammar aren't going to be worth horse manure compost when we are gone.

Can "look" be transitive in the meaning "look at"?

2 Answers2