love at first sight
An instantaneous attraction to someone or something. For example, With Peter and Constance, it was a case of love at first sight, or When Dave saw that car, it was love at first sight. This expression was already used by Chaucer for romantic attraction in Troilus and Cressida: “She loved right from the first sight.” The transfer to objects dates from the first half of the 1900s.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Examples from the Web for love at first sight
Contemporary Examples
My attachment to the song became especially pronounced last Christmas, when I had my first love-at-first-sight experience.
Historical Examples
Of these she selects, entirely on the love-at-first-sight principle, a very handsome young man who passes in the street.
A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1George Saintsbury
She recollected her love-at-first-sight for the pretty bride, and well-nigh regarded the friendship as a romance of her girlhood.
HeartseaseCharlotte M. Yonge
It was a sudden smite,—one of those flash-in-the-pan, love-at-first-sight affairs.
Marion's Faith.Charles King