Talk:seek

intransitive verb : search for something

seek for/after --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:06, 9 September 2019 (UTC)

To try to reach or come to

I find this sense problematic:

1. (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.

   • 1726 (tr.), Alexander Pope, Homer's Odyssey, Book II, line 33

     Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains

The "try to reach" and "go to" senses (illustrated by the usex and quotations, respectively) feel pretty different. Notably the former is still in common currency, and the latter is obsolete(?). Possibly they should be split up. But I'm also wondering whether "try to reach" isn't already covered by our first sense: "To try to find; to look for; to search for." To "try to reach the exit" and to "look for the exit" or "try to find the exit" all strike me as meaning the same thing in the context of the usex. Though maybe the distinction is that the last two work on a more pragmatic level? Colin M (talk) 04:57, 28 February 2021 (UTC)