apple of someone's eye
/ˌæp(ə)l‿əv sʌmwʌnz ˈaɪ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.13 in modern English
30
Scrabble Score
18
Letters
3
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Sara was never the same after losing her daughter, the apple of her eye."
- "Kepe me as the apple of an eye, defende me vnder the ſhadowe of thy wynges."
- "If you touche him [Philip II of Spain] in the Indies, you touche the apple of his eye; for take away his treasure, which is neruus belli [the sinews of war], and which he hath almoste oute of his West Indies, his olde bandes of souldiers will soone be dissolved, his purposes defeated, his power and strengthe diminished, his pride abated, and his tyranie utterly suppressed."
- "For the Lords portion is his people: Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a deſert land, and in the wasſe howling wilderneſſe: Hee ledde him about, he inſtructed him, hee kept him as the apple of his eye."
- "[P]oor Richard was to me as an eldest son, the apple of my eye, and my destined heir; but he died in his duty, and I—I— […] I live to avenge him."
- "It lost, moreover, on its very first evening, one of the very apples of its eye in the removal of Mr. Brown's grand heifer, who was the gold medallist of her sex. She was seized with distemper, and at once removed to an adjacent stall."
Etymology
PIE word *h₂ébōl From Middle English appel of the eie (“pupil of the eye; cornea; (figurative) something highly valued”), from Old English æppel on the ēagan, used in biblical texts (Deuteronomy 32:10, Psalm 17:8; Proverbs 7:2, Lamentations 2:18, and Zechariah 2:8; compare the quotations) to designate the pupil of the eye as something precious to be protected. The use of "apple" in English is apparently due to the pupil or cornea being thought of as a solid, globular object.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌæp(ə)l‿əv sʌmwʌnz ˈaɪ/
- British English: /ˌæpl̩‿əv sʌmwʌnz ˈaɪ/