Meaning
Someone or something that is very welcome or pleasing to see, especially after a long absence, a wait, or a spell of difficulty; a person whose arrival brings relief or joy. Almost always positive, and frequently said directly and warmly to the person concerned. Warm and affectionate, often used as a greeting to someone who has been missed; frequently misspelled 'site' online. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The expression was recorded by Jonathan Swift in 1738, in his satire on fashionable talk, A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, in the form 'The Sight of you is good for sore Eyes'; since Swift's book was a tongue-in-cheek collection of clichés already current in polite conversation, the phrase evidently predated its first appearance in print. The exact modern wording is recorded from 1826, in William Hazlitt's piece in the New Monthly Magazine about the actor David Garrick ('What a sight for sore eyes that would be!'). The 'sore eyes' are understood as eyes strained by longing or weeping, which the welcome sight soothes. Despite a persistent modern guess, there is no evidence the phrase ever meant an unwelcome spectacle; it is unconnected with the word 'eyesore', which means the opposite. Grammarist likewise dates it to the 18th century via the Swift citation.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a rare sight for sore eyes
- a sight for weary eyes
- you're a sight for sore eyes
Usage Examples
- When the supply convoy finally reached the valley, its drivers were a sight for sore eyes.
- You're a sight for sore eyes, he told his old colleague, pouring him a coffee at the end of the night shift.
- After a week of hotel breakfasts, the bowl of fruit on her own kitchen table was a sight for sore eyes.