Green’s Dictionary of Slang

look up v.¹

to visit.

[1741		Canting Academy, or the Pedlar’s-French Dict. 116: To go up Stairs To look up the Dancers].
1827		Egan Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. 182: She ‘looked him up’ as if by accident.
1836–7		Dickens Pickwick Papers (1999) 645: He used to go back for a week, just to look up his old friends.
1859		Punch xxxvi 177, 1: When you hung out in Soho, old cock, one could often look you up [F&H].
1866		Wild Boys of London I 358/1: ‘I want you to look up a drum with me.’ ‘Burglary, you mean?’ ‘You’ve hit it exactly.’.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Jun. 9/1: Denver was luckier – got away with the swag – and, just as anyone would do, returned to England to look up his wife.
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 3: You breezed in here, you looked me up, I put you up and I put up with you.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 16: She [...] asked me to look her up if I was ever there.
1944		L. Glassop We Were the Rats 167: ‘I’ll come and see you as often as I can.’ ‘I’ll look you up, too.’.
1953		P. Larkin letter 28 July in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 207: Two drunk men in my sleeping compartment, Glasgow-Birmingham, who smashed a botttle, threatened me with a niblick, sang [...] One was coming on to Weymouth and promised to look me up. O God!
1960		E. De Roo Big Rumble 149: Ain’t Big Tony lucky. He don’t even have to look Claw Talos up. Claw Talos looks him up instead.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 150: I looking up my ancestors.
2001		Source Aug. 124: Teddy had someone look me up, and I came through with my verse instantly.