# 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: /saɪt/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪt
* Homophones: cite, site

### Noun

sight (countable and uncountable, plural sights)
* (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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]: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[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 12, line 67:O loſs of ſight, of thee I moſt complain!
* 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.
* 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; […]
* (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.
* (often in the plural) A device used in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target.
* 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:their eyes of fire sparking through sights of steel
* (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!"
* 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.
* (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,:Why cloude they not their ſights perpetually,
* 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

* a damn sight
* a fuck sight
* at first sight
* at short sight
* at sight
* at the sight of
* barleycorn sight
* bill of sight
* bore sight
* by sight
* can't stand the sight of
* catch sight of
* day-sight
* eye sight
* far sight
* far-sighted
* foresight
* get out of my sight
* globe sight
* heave in sight
* heave into sight
* hidden in plain sight
* hide in plain sight
* hindsight
* in one's sight
* in plain sight
* insight
* in sight
* keep sight of
* leaf sight
* line of sight
* line-of-sight
* long sight
* long-sighted
* lose sight of
* love at first sight
* mouse-sight
* near sight
* near-sighted
* not a pretty sight
* nowhere in sight
* old sight
* on sight
* out of one's sight
* out of sight
* out of sight is out of mind
* out of sight, out of mind
* outsight
* outta sight
* oversight
* point of sight
* pyramid sight
* second sight
* short sight
* short-sighted
* sight bite
* sight cheque
* sight draft
* sight for sore eyes
* sightful
* sight gag
* sight glass
* sight in
* sightless
* sightly
* sight radius
* sight read
* sight-read
* sight-reader
* sight rhyme
* sight-seeing
* sight sing
* sight to behold
* sight-translate
* sight translation
* sight triangle
* sight unseen
* sightwise
* sight word
* slant sight
* take a sight
* telescopic sight
* time sight

#### Translations
### Verb

sight (third-person singular simple present sights, present participle sighting, simple past and past participle sighted)
* (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
** (transitive) To observe through, 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.
* (transitive) To apply sights to; to adjust the sights of.
    to sight a rifle or a cannon
* (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
* 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, volume (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)