Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SIGHT, n. [Sax. gesiht, with a prefix; D. gezigt; G. sicht; Dan. sigt; Sw. sickt, from the root of see.]

1. The act of seeing; perception of objects by the eye; view; as, to gain sight of land; to have a sight of a landscape; to lose sight of a ship at sea. A cloud received him out of their sight. – Acts i.
2. The faculty of vision, or of perceiving objects by the instrumentality of the eyes. It has been doubted whether moles have sight. Milton lost his sight. The sight usually fails at or before fifty years of age. O loss of sight, of thee I most complain. – Milton.
3. Open view; the state of admitting unobstructed vision; a being within the limits of vision. The harbor is in sight of the town. The shore of Long Island is in sight of New Haven. The White mountain is in plain sight at Portland, in Maine; a mountain is or is not within sight; an engagement at sea is within sight of land.
4. Notice from seeing; knowledge; as, a letter intended for the sight of one person only.
5. Eye; the instrument of seeing. From the depth of hell they lift their sight. – Dryden.
6. An aperture through which objects are to be seen; or something to direct the vision; as, the sight of a quadrant; the sight of a fowling-piece or a rifle.
7. That which is beheld; a spectacle; a show; particularly, something novel and remarkable; something wonderful. They never saw a sight so fair. – Spenser. Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. – Exod. iii. Fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. – Luke xxi. To take sight, to take aim; to look for the purpose of directing a piece of artillery, &c.