lay eyes on, to

lay eyes on

Also, clap or set eyes on . Look at, see, as in As soon as I laid eyes on him I knew he would be perfect for the lead in our play, or I'd never set eyes on such a beautiful gown. The first term dates from the early 1200s and the third from the late 1300s; the second, using clap in the sense of "a sudden movement," dates from the first half of the 1800s. See also: eye, lay, on

lay eyes on, to

To see, to look at. This expression is first recorded in a Middle English manuscript from about 1225. Poet Andrew Marvell used it in Mr. Smirke (1676), “The fairest thing that ever eyes were laid on.”See also: eye, lay