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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

lay eyes on en · VERB

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic) To see; look at; glimpse.
    • I remember back in school / When I first laid my eyes on you / I saw your smile and knew right then and there 1980, Teena Marie, “Young Love”, in Irons in the Fire:
    • We can show the kids the tape and say, ‘Look, that's when we first laid eyes on each other.’ 2018 February 5, Samantha Masters, quoting Edie Brickell, “Paul Simon tour 2018: Who is the Simon & Garfunkel star’s wife?”, in Express.co.uk:
    • Does she regard him simply as a workman come to do a job for her, someone whom she need never lay eyes on again; or is she gabbling to hide discomfiture? 2013, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 16, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company, page 144:
    • Had he seen her once? He debated that a moment. No. The habits of long service years had made him note and remember people. He knew that if ever he had laid eyes on her lovely face, he would never have forgotten. 1927, William Byron Mowery, Pirates Of The Muskeg:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
lays eyes on Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
laying eyes on Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
lay one's eyes on alternative lexicographic
laid eyes on Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
laid eyes on Tense=Past lexicographic