Idiom
Apple of my eye
Someone who is the apple of your eye is the person you love most and are very proud of.
How people use it
It is usually said about a child or grandchild, sometimes a partner or pet, and the possessive changes to fit: she's the apple of her father's eye. It sounds warm and a little old-fashioned, which is part of its charm. You can use it about a thing (that old truck was the apple of his eye), but people mostly mean a person. It names one special favorite, so it sounds odd about a whole group.
Also said: the apple of someone's eye.
Examples
- Their youngest daughter is the apple of their eye, and they never miss her soccer games.
- Grandpa's vegetable garden is the apple of his eye.
- That scruffy rescue puppy quickly became the apple of my eye.
Where it comes from
In Old English, the pupil of the eye was called the apple, because people thought it was a solid round ball. The pupil is precious and must be protected, so "the apple of the eye" came to mean something dearly loved. The phrase goes back more than a thousand years in English and appears several times in the King James Bible of 1611. Shakespeare also used "apple of his eye" in A Midsummer Night's Dream, there meaning the pupil itself.
Check yourself
1. If a grandson is the apple of his grandmother's eye, what does that mean?
Answer: She loves him dearly and is proud of him. The idiom names a deeply loved favorite person.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: Their first grandchild is the apple of their eye.. The idiom describes someone cherished, not an eye problem or someone you avoid.
Word game fan? See every word hiding in APPLE.