Dictionary

once-over en · NOUN

Etymology

From the idea of going over something once.

Meanings

1. A quick clean or polish.
   • I gave the room a once-over with the mop.
2. A cursory inspection or survey.
   • Giving the wench the once-over as she entered, I found myself well able to understand why Bobbie on observing her entangled with [her fiancé] had exploded with so loud a report. 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter XIII, in Jeeves in the Offing:
   • The dear old room was just as I'd left it, nothing changed, and my first move, of course, was to procure another chair and give the top of the armoire the once-over. It was a set-back to find that the cow-creamer wasn't there. 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter VIII, in Jeeves in the Offing:
   • He gave her the once-over, hooked with his foot a swivel chair from the next desk and rolled it over for her. 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 4, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 61:
   • My GP gave me the once-over and said it was merely a cold.
   • I'll give it a once-over for free, but a proper look will cost you.
   • The girls sat there while the johns (customers) moped around giving them the once-over. 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Not too Far Tangent”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 22:

Forms

Hypernyms

lookover

Relateds

spot check · look-see

Translations (2)

bg преглеждане набързо (a cursory inspection) · ru поверхностный осмотр (a cursory inspection)