everything in sight
5
3.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
todo lo que se ve
- Gideon is busy eating almost everything in sight.
- eat everything in sight
- destroy everything in sight
- buy everything in sight
Examples
-
During the festival, visitors were excited to take pictures of everything in sight.
-
We had prepared for this for days, cleaning everything in sight, giving the house a going-over, washing the dust of disuse from glasses and good dishes.
Fiction book (2000) -
We buy everything in sight.
-
Me, I eat everything in sight.
Fiction book (1998) -
Buy everything in sight up to 22.
-
I ran into the kitchen, and with tears pouring down my little cheeks, I ate everything in sight.
Blog text (12) -
We saw them swarming all over the place, eating everything in sight—and the vegetation grows back awful fast.
Fiction book (1998) -
As the party went on, she started grabbing everything in sight from the buffet table.
-
The toddler was curious and pointed at everything in sight during their walk in the park.
Synonyms
7
4.1
Every small or hidden part of a place where things can hide
How Many
- Informal
5
3.2
8
9.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
everything + in + sight
The meaning 'all things that can be seen' is directly and compositionally derived from 'everything' (all things) + 'in' (within) + 'sight' (visible area), with 'in sight' meaning 'visible'. This simple locative/visibility composition is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will readily understand the MWE.
Etymology
Everything in sight comes from the simple image of someone looking around and taking everything that is in their sight, meaning all they can see. That's why it means 'all things that can be seen' or 'every available item'.