sight

English

Etymology

From Middle English siȝht, siȝt, siht, from Old English siht, sihþ (“something seen; vision”), from Proto-West Germanic *sihti, equivalent to see +‎ -th. Cognate with Scots sicht, Saterland Frisian Sicht, West Frisian sicht, Dutch zicht, German Low German Sicht, German Sicht, Danish sigte, Swedish sikte.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sīt, IPA^(key): /saɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt
• Homophones: cite, site

Noun

sight (countable and uncountable, plural sights)

1. (in the singular) The ability to see.

   He is losing his sight and now can barely read.

   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Thy sight is young, / And thou shalt read when mine begin to dazzle.

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J. M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 12, line 67:

     O loſs of ſight, of thee I moſt complain!

2. The act of seeing; perception of objects by the eye; view.

   to gain sight of land

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Acts 1:9:

     And when hee had spoken these things, while they beheld, hee was taken vp, and a cloud receiued him out of their sight.

3. Something seen.
   • 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 236d:

     He's a really remarkable man and it's very hard to get him in one's sights; […]

5. (often in the plural) Something worth seeing; a spectacle, either good or bad.

   We went to London and saw all the sights – Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, and so on.

   You really look a sight in that ridiculous costume!

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Exodus 3:3:

     And Moses saide, I will nowe turne aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, Prothalamion:

     They never saw a sight so fair.

6. (often in the plural) A device used in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target.
7. A small aperture through which objects are to be seen, and by which their direction is settled or ascertained.

   the sight of a quadrant

   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     their eyes of fire sparking through sights of steel

8. (now colloquial) a great deal, a lot; frequently used to intensify a comparative.

   a sight of money

   This is a darn sight better than what I'm used to at home!

   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 2, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. , →OCLC:

     "If your mother put you in the pit at twelve, it's no reason why I should do the same with my lad."
     "Twelve! It wor a sight afore that!"

9. In a drawing, picture, etc., that part of the surface, as of paper or canvas, which is within the frame or the border or margin. In a frame, the open space, the opening.
10. (obsolete) The instrument of seeing; the eye.
    • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. , London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  , published 1609, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

      Why cloude they not their ſights perpetually,

11. Mental view; opinion; judgment.

    In their sight it was harmless.

    • 1720, William Wake, Principles of the Christian Religion in a Commentary on the Church Catechism:

      a very heinous Sin in the Sight of God

    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Luke 16:15:

      That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Synonyms

• (ability to see): sense of sight, vision
• (something seen): view
• (aiming device): scope, peep sight

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

sight (third-person singular simple present sights, present participle sighting, simple past and past participle sighted)

1. (transitive) To see; to get sight of (something); to register visually.
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     I was on my way to the door, but all at once, through the fog in my head, I began to sight one reef that I hadn't paid any attention to afore.

   to sight land from a ship

   1. (transitive) To observe though, or as if through, a sight, to check the elevation, direction, levelness, or other characteristics of, especially when surveying or navigating.
      • 1912, John Herbert Farrell, Alfred Joseph Moses, Practical Field Geology, page 30:

        Next a point of known elevation, preferably one of the triangulation stations, is sighted; the vertical angle is read and the horizontal distance is scaled from the point of the setup on the map to the point sighted.

2. (transitive) To apply sights to; to adjust the sights of.

   to sight a rifle or a cannon

3. (transitive, intransitive) To observe or aim (at something) using a (gun) sight.
   • 2005 August 2, C. J. Cherryh, The Deep Beyond, Penguin, →ISBN:

     Jim braced the gun and sighted, tried to pull the trigger. Beside him a body collapsed, limp. It was Max. A shot had gone through his brain. Jim stared down at him, numb with horror.

   • 2009, James Wright, FBI: Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity : an Autobiography, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 27:

     So I sighted the deer with my .30—30 and fired at him. The bullet hit about ten yards below the deer. I realized that I had a problem with the gun so I aimed about ten yards above the deer as he was running and he dropped dead on the [spot].

   • 2010 October 6, Bryce M. Towsley, Gunsmithing Made Easy: Projects for the Home Gunsmith, Skyhorse Publishing Inc., →ISBN:

     This buck was finally mine. I had spent hours shooting at moving targets with that rifle and there was no way I could miss. I raised my gun and sighted through the scope.

Synonyms

• (visually register): see
• (get sight of): espy, glimpse, spot
• (take aim): aim at, take aim at

Derived terms

• resight

Translations

See also

• see
• vision

Anagrams

• ghits, thigs

Middle English

Noun

sight

1. a great deal, a lot
   • c. 1386–1390, John Gower, edited by Reinhold Pauli, Confessio Amantis of John Gower: Edited and Collated with the Best Manuscripts, volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Bell and Daldy , published 1857, →OCLC:

     A nombre of twenty sterres bright,
     Which is to sene a wonder sight

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)