apple of one's eye

[ ap-uhluhv wuhnz ahy ]
See synonyms for apple of one's eye on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. something or someone very precious or dear: His new baby girl was the apple of his eye.

Origin of apple of one's eye

1
First recorded before 900; Old English æppel “apple,” also used to translate Latin pupillam oculī “pupil of the eye” (Psalm 18:8 of the Vulgate), figuratively extended to something or someone precious

Words Nearby apple of one's eye

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Cultural definitions for apple of one's eye

apple of one's eye

The favorite object of a person's love or affection: “Linda was fond of all the horses on the ranch, but the little palomino was the apple of her eye.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Other Idioms and Phrases with apple of one's eye

apple of one's eye

Special favorite, beloved person or thing, as in The youngest was the apple of his father's eye. This term, which rests on the ancients' idea that the eye's pupil is apple-shaped and that eyes are particularly precious, appears in the Bible (Deuteronomy 32:10). [Early 1600s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.