with one's eyes open

Fully aware, as in We started this project with our eyes open and are not surprised at the results. [First half of 1900s] Also see keep one's eyes open.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As to being cheated with one’s eyes open, one does not complain—you expect it, and it is not worth while losing your temper merely for the sake of a few paltry centimes; and yet I felt that I had been done unfairly when, on asking a waiter for a cup of coffee noir, and giving him an English shilling, and particularly calling his attention to the value of the coin, he coolly treats it as a franc, and gives me change accordingly.

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A walk up Fifth Avenue in New York, from Madison Square to the Park, with one's eyes open . . . leaves an indelible impression of chaos that is certainly without form, if it is not wholly void.

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"At all events, I do not know a more delightful sensation than the sort of strange shiveriness which goes through one when one feels--heaven knows how, or why--as if one were suddenly casting a glance, with one's eyes open, into some strange, mystic dream-world."