sights


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Related to sights: Iron sights, see the sights

sight

 (sīt)
n.
1.
a. The ability to see.
b. Field of vision: out of my sight.
2.
a. The act or fact of seeing: hoping for a sight of land; caught sight of a rare bird.
b. Something seen: That bird is a rare sight around here.
c. Something worth seeing; a spectacle: the sights of London.
d. Informal Something unsightly or ridiculous: looked a sight after crossing the swamp.
3. The foreseeable future; prospect: no solution in sight.
4. Mental perception or consideration: We lost sight of the purpose of our visit.
5.
a. often sights A device used to assist aim by guiding the eye, as on a firearm or surveying instrument.
b. An aim or observation taken with such a device.
v. sight·ed, sight·ing, sights
v.tr.
1. To perceive with the eyes; get sight of: sighted land after 40 days at sea.
2. To observe through a sight or an optical instrument: sight a target.
3. To adjust the sights of (a rifle, for example).
4. To take aim with (a firearm).
v.intr.
1. To direct one's gaze; look carefully.
2. To take aim: sighted along the barrel of the gun.
Idioms:
a sight Upper Southern US
A lot; much: We're a sight better off without him.
on sight
Immediately upon being seen: threatened to shoot looters on sight.
out of sight Slang
Remarkable; incredible: The graduation party was out of sight.
sight for sore eyes Informal
One whom it is a relief or joy to see.
sight unseen
Without seeing the object in question: bought the horse sight unseen.

[Middle English, from Old English sihth, gesiht, something seen; see sekw- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.sights - an optical instrument for aiding the eye in aiming, as on a firearm or surveying instrument
bombsight - a sighting device in an aircraft for aiming bombs
eyepiece, ocular - combination of lenses at the viewing end of optical instruments
firearm, small-arm, piece - a portable gun; "he wore his firearm in a shoulder holster"
gunsight, gun-sight - a sight used for aiming a gun
optical instrument - an instrument designed to aid vision
surveying instrument, surveyor's instrument - an instrument used by surveyors
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
Collins Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
References in classic literature ?
Victory, who was given a voice in our councils, was all for going to the continent, or anywhere else, in fact, where she might see new sights and experience new adventures.
SECOND MESSENGER Most grave and reverend senators of Thebes, What Deeds ye soon must hear, what sights behold How will ye mourn, if, true-born patriots, Ye reverence still the race of Labdacus!
"Velly glad see Linee black 'gain," and that was all that Sing Lee had to say of the adventures through which he had just passed, and the strange sights that he had seen.
Opposites in the sense of 'privatives' and 'positives' are' blindness' and 'sight'; in the sense of affirmatives and negatives, the propositions 'he sits', 'he does not sit'.
But only for a moment they hesitated, and then with one accord they again took up their fantastic advance upon their prey; but even then a sudden crashing in the jungle behind them brought them once more to a halt, and as they turned to look in the direction of this new noise there broke upon their startled visions a sight that may well have frozen the blood of braver men than the Wagambi.
And I recall now with a sort of wonder that, in spite of the infinite danger in which we were between starvation and a still more terrible death, we could yet struggle bitterly for that horrible privilege of sight. We would race across the kitchen in a grotesque way between eagerness and the dread of making a noise, and strike each other, and thrust add kick, within a few inches of exposure.
He had gone but a short distance in return when he was brought to a sudden and startled halt by sight of a strange figure moving through the trees toward him.
They filled her mind with the superstitions which are still respected as truths in the wild North--especially the superstition called the Second Sight."
The Old Woman, when she recovered her sight and saw none of her goods in her house, would give him nothing.
IT was a sight that some people remembered better even than their own sorrows--the sight in that grey clear morning, when the fatal cart with the two young women in it was descried by the waiting watching multitude, cleaving its way towards the hideous symbol of a deliberately inflicted sudden death.
A Departure, the last professional sight of land, is always good, or at least good enough.
I sighted as carefully and deliberately as though at a straw target.