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onlooker

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: on-looker

English

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Etymology

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From on +‎ look +‎ -er, probably from the verb look on, but compare with onlook.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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onlooker (plural onlookers)

  1. A spectator; someone looks on or watches, without becoming involved or participating.
    I wasn’t involved in the fight; I was only an onlooker.
    • 1945 May and June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 152:
      When the right-away was given, Driver Gibson would give a sonorous blast on Cardean's deep-toned hooter, and amid a flurry of swirling steam the train would move majestically out, with nearly half the city of Carlisle—or so it would appear—as onlookers on the platform.
    • 1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, page 249:
      As a result, while the train was being shunted at Bombay, the buffers became locked, producing a situation most intriguing for the onlookers, but exasperating for the exalted passengers and the unhappy railway authorities.
    • 2004, “The Mob Goes Wild”, in Blast Tyrant, performed by Clutch:
      Please allow me to adjust my pants
      So that I may dance the good time dance
      And put the onlookers and innocent bystanders into a trance

Synonyms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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