look a question

[redgiant]

Suppose a stranger is leading me and my friend into a dark alley where I see a manly figure holding a rubber bag. I know there's something seedy going on but I can't figure out what it is. I don't dare say a word to my friend as the stranger is getting testy, and not to mention he has a knife tucked in his belt. So I just look a question at my friend hoping to find out what is going on, but my friend only shrugs, obviously hiding something.

Hi, I came across "look a question" in a book and I'd like to check with you if it fits in this concocted scenario. I take "look a question" to mean "give someone a look that seems to ask a question".

 

[PaulQ]

"look a question" seems unnatural and unlikely.

"So I just look a question shot a questioning glance at my friend hoping to find out what is going on"

 

[JustKate]

I disagree with Paul. I have heard "look a question" (though I don't think I've ever used it myself), and what it means is exactly what you supposed, Redgiant: Look at someone in such a way that you seem to be asking a question. Paul's suggestion of "shot a questioning glance" works as well.

 

[ewie]

It's certainly understandable ... but I prefer MrQ's alternative

 

[PaulQ]

I've just queried Google Ngram for "he looked a question,I looked a question" - from 1886, they appear, albeit infrequently, in AE but in BE, they are completely absent.

(Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have found the defining difference - I will write to Mr Chomsky)

 

[Miss Julie]

I'd never heard/seen the phrase before today...

 

[Myridon]

I queried for just "looked a question" and there are even some in BE. Here's one from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Nightmare Room":

Campbell stepped back and looked a question at the lady.

 

[JustKate]

I'm surprised that it sounds so odd to everybody else. I've never had the impression it was common, because I'm sure it's not, but up until now, I hadn't considered it obscure. Maybe I should. But to me it sounds no more obscure than a lot of the expressions we happily answer questions about here - I mean, it's far less obscure than, say, sepulcher vs. sepulture.

 

[ewie]

I wouldn't say it sounds 'odd' to me, Kate ... it's just 'unfamiliar' ... and not something I'd actually say or write

 

[redgiant]

The bottom line is that it isn't a common way of expressing the idea, but it is understandable, and wouldn't raise any non- pedantic eyebrows if you said that.

 

[jacdac]

On the third wide circle of John’s Suburban, Dan’s mouth broke into a grin, and a very Abra-like giggle issued from him. Dave looked a question at John across the body of their shambling, stumbling charge. John shrugged and shook his head.
Source: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Not surprising that King uses this expression.

 

[Anglona]

‘I a better prepared for it than you, as it happens.’
I looked a question at her.

From Talking Cubes, a short story by Brian Aldiss.
It may not be an everyday expression, but not altogether uncommon in literature.