lay eyes on

• lay one's eyes on

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lay eyes on (third-person singular simple present lays eyes on, present participle laying eyes on, simple past and past participle laid eyes on)

1. (idiomatic) To see; look at; glimpse.
   • 1927, William Byron Mowery, Pirates Of The Muskeg:

     Had he seen her once? He debated that a moment. No. The habits of long service years had made him note and remember people. He knew that if ever he had laid eyes on her lovely face, he would never have forgotten.

   • 1980, Teena Marie, “Young Love”, in Irons in the Fire:

     I remember back in school / When I first laid my eyes on you / I saw your smile and knew right then and there

   • 2013, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 16, in The Childhood of Jesus, Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company, page 144:

     Does she regard him simply as a workman come to do a job for her, someone whom she need never lay eyes on again; or is she gabbling to hide discomfiture?

   • 2018 February 5, Samantha Masters, quoting Edie Brickell, “Paul Simon tour 2018: Who is the Simon & Garfunkel star’s wife?”, in Express.co.uk‎^[1]:

     We can show the kids the tape and say, ‘Look, that's when we first laid eyes on each other.’