Learn English – “I’ve been looking to do [this or that].” Is “looking to do” idiomatic

idiomsphrases

Pretty much that's the question. I wanna think that I have heard it used many times ("I've been looking to do that for the longest time"), but now I'm not sure.
Thanks!

Best Answer

As John Lawler notes in the comments:

It's a simple matter of a particular sense of a verb gaining the complement pattern of its synonyms. This sense of look means 'look forward/intend/plan', and like these predicates, it takes an infinitive complement. E.g, He's looking/intending/planning to mow the lawn. Look forward, of course, has a connotation of pleasant expectancy, and takes a prepositional phrase (with a gerund) instead of an infinitive: He's looking forward to mowing the lawn.

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