What does looking glass mean?
Word: Looking glass
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Looking glass means an old-fashioned word for a mirror.
Synonyms: mirror
How do you spell looking glass?
Syllables: look - ing glass
Tricky part: Oxford writes it as two words, looking glass, with no hyphen; the hyphenated looking-glass is also seen, as in the title of Lewis Carroll's book. Either way, look has a double o and glass a double s.
Watch out for: loking glass, looking glas, lookin glass
Memory tip: You look into it with two eyes, so look has two o's; the glass it is made of keeps both of its s's.
Looking glass in a sentence
Example 1: The palace hall had a tall looking glass in a gold frame.
Example 2: Grandma still calls the mirror in her room the looking glass.
Example 3: In the fairy tale, the queen asks her looking glass who is the fairest of all.
Fun Fact
Lewis Carroll's second Alice book, Through the Looking-Glass, came out at the end of 1871; in it Alice climbs through a mirror into a world where everything runs backwards.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Only one of these compound words is spelt correctly. Choose it.
Choose the correctly spelt compound word.
a) forgett-me-not
b) merry-go-rownd
c) well-behaived
d) looking glass
Show answer
d) looking glass. Looking glass is right as two words (looking-glass is also seen); the others should be merry-go-round, forget-me-not and well-behaved.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
lo_kin_ glass
a) e, g
b) u, g
c) o, k
d) o, g
Show answer
d) o, g. Look needs a second o, and the ing ending needs its g.
Spell-o-Spell
One word in the list is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. chandelier 2. wardrobe 3. mantelpiece 4. looking glas
a) a shelf above a fireplace
b) an old word for a mirror
c) a tall cupboard for hanging clothes
d) a hanging light with many branches for bulbs or candles
Show answer
b) an old word for a mirror. Looking glas is missing an s; glass always has two.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In old stories, a looking glass is ____.
a) a mirror
b) a drinking cup
c) a telescope
d) a window
Show answer
a) a mirror
2. The queen peered into the looking glass to ____.
a) hear the music
b) check her crown
c) pour the tea
d) light the lamp
Show answer
b) check her crown
