look over one's shoulder en · VERB
Meanings
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(idiomatic) To check obsessively out of excessive caution or fear of a perceived danger.
This is a cutthroat industry. You have to constantly look over your shoulder.
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Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see look, over, shoulder.
Once I visited the Kings Cross office on an extremely foggy day and about 3.45 I was looking over the shoulder of the Section Controller for the Kings Cross-Finsbury Park stretch.
1962 May, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 343:Nick walked over and touched the brass knob, looked over his shoulder as if Judah may be watching from the doorway.
2021, Michael Farris Smith, chapter 28, in Nick, New York; Boston; London: Little, Brown and Company, page 150:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| looks over one's shoulder | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| looking over one's shoulder | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| looked over one's shoulder | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| looked over one's shoulder | Tense=Past | lexicographic |
Translations (7)
fi olla varuillaan (check obsessively out of fear) · ru боя́ться ка́ждого шо́роха (check obsessively out of fear) · pl but see baczyć (check obsessively out of fear) · ru держа́ть ухо́ востро́ (check obsessively out of fear) · ru жить как на порохово́й бо́чке (check obsessively out of fear) · ru ходи́ть огля́дываться (check obsessively out of fear) · it guardarsi alle spalle (check obsessively out of fear)