apple of someone's eye

Deuteronomy 32:10, where it translates Biblical Hebrew אִישׁוֹן עֵינוֹ‎ (ʾîšôn ʿênô, literally “the pupil of his eye”)[1]; from Middle English appel of the eyȝe, appel of þe ye (“eyeball; the visible part of the eye; pupil”), a dissimilated variant of Middle English ij appel (literally “eye-apple”). Compare English eye-apple.

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

apple of someone's eye (plural apples of someone's eye)

1. (idiomatic) A favourite, a particular preference, or a loved one; the object of somebody's affections.

   Sara was never the same after losing her daughter, the apple of her eye.

   • 1972, Stevie Wonder (lyrics and music), “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”, in Talking Book:

     You are the apple of my eye / Forever you'll stay in my heart

   • 1982, Domenic Bugatti; Frank Muskeer; Christopher Cerf (lyrics), “Prowlin'”, in Grease 2:

     You see the apple of your eye, stackin' peaches in a five foot pile / Just waitin' for some guy to come, and take her rollin' down the aisle

   • 2000, “She's Got All The Friends That Money Can Buy”, in WYSIWYG, performed by Chumbawamba:

     She's got all the friends that money can buy / She's the apple of her daddy's eye

• eye-apple

• apple of the eye