Every month I choose a photograph from Flickr to appear here. Hopefully something interesting and informative or just plain silly.
This month's photo is from me. It's called, Look out / lookout / look-out
Phrasal verb or phrasal noun? Well, both actually.
A look out can be a place from which to keep watch or view a landscape. It can also be used to describe the person stationed to keep watch for danger or trouble.
We also use it to describe a personal concern. His heavy drinking is his own lookout. Or to indicate whether a likely outcome is good or bad. “What if he gets sick?” “It's a bad lookout in that case.”
To look out, is simply the act of looking out of something.
If you stick an exclamation mark on the end, you get a cry of warning - "Look out! You might fall!"
In this photo, I don't think she's a lookout, but she has a great view to look out of at as she looks out at the London skyline.