lay eyes on
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
As soon as Tom laid eyes on Mary, he knew she was the one for him.
But I didn't think of anything else since the first moment I laid eyes on you, either.’
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “lay eyes on” mean?
to see someone or something for the first time Literally: to place eyes on
Is “lay eyes on” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.