lay eyes on

Idioms  

1. Also,. 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.

---

Example Sentences

They know they’re both spies when they lay eyes on each other for the first time at the New York apartment doubling as their HQ.

From Salon • Feb. 2, 2024

Of the hundreds of souls that gathered here in Lower Manhattan, only a few dozen journalists, police officers and lawyers would even lay eyes on the man they had come to see.

From Washington Post • Apr. 4, 2023

Having written about it in the past, I was intrigued to lay eyes on its modest proportions.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 8, 2022

But today, the residents largely remember her arrival as a moving gesture of solidarity from someone they never expected to lay eyes on.

From New York Times • Sep. 18, 2022

I never want to lay eyes on any Spiritualists again, and I wish to say clearly that I owe all my misfortune to that woman, my sister, Mrs. Underhill.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock