sight

Etymology

From Middle English siȝht, siȝt, siht, from Old English siht, sihþ (“something seen; vision”), from Proto-West Germanic *sihti, equivalent to see + -th. Cognate with Scots sicht, Saterland Frisian Sicht, West Frisian sicht, Dutch zicht, German Low German Sicht, German Sicht, Danish sigte, Swedish sikte.

noun

1. (in the singular) The ability to see.
   He is losing his sight and now can barely read.
2. The act of seeing; perception of objects by the eye; view.
   to gain sight of land
3. Something seen.
   He's a really remarkable man and it's very hard to get him in one's sights; […] 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 236d
4. (often in the plural) Something worth seeing; a spectacle, either good or bad.
   We went to London and saw all the sights – Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, and so on.
   You really look a sight in that ridiculous costume!
   They never saw a sight so fair. 1596, Edmund Spenser, Prothalamion
5. (often in the plural) A device used in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target.
6. A small aperture through which objects are to be seen, and by which their direction is settled or ascertained.
   the sight of a quadrant
7. (now colloquial) a great deal, a lot; frequently used to intensify a comparative.
   a sight of money
   This is a darn sight better than what I'm used to at home!
8. In a drawing, picture, etc., that part of the surface, as of paper or canvas, which is within the frame or the border or margin. In a frame, the open space, the opening.
9. (obsolete) The instrument of seeing; the eye.
10. Mental view; opinion; judgment.
    In their sight it was harmless.
    a very heinous Sin in the Sight of God 1720, William Wake, Principles of the Christian Religion in a Commentary on the Church Catechism

verb

1. (transitive) To see; to get sight of (something); to register visually.
   I was on my way to the door, but all at once, through the fog in my head, I began to sight one reef that I hadn't paid any attention to afore. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   to sight land from a ship
   1. (transitive) To observe though, or as if through, a sight, to check the elevation, direction, levelness, or other characteristics of, especially when surveying or navigating.
      Next a point of known elevation, preferably one of the triangulation stations, is sighted; the vertical angle is read and the horizontal distance is scaled from the point of the setup on the map to the point sighted. 1912, John Herbert Farrell, Alfred Joseph Moses, Practical Field Geology, page 30
2. (transitive) To apply sights to; to adjust the sights of.
   to sight a rifle or a cannon
3. (transitive, intransitive) To observe or aim (at something) using a (gun) sight.
   Jim braced the gun and sighted, tried to pull the trigger. Beside him a body collapsed, limp. It was Max. A shot had gone through his brain. Jim stared down at him, numb with horror. 2005-08-02, C. J. Cherryh, The Deep Beyond, Penguin
   So I sighted the deer with my .30—30 and fired at him. The bullet hit about ten yards below the deer. I realized that I had a problem with the gun so I aimed about ten yards above the deer as he was running and he dropped dead on the [spot]. 2009, James Wright, FBI: Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity : an Autobiography, iUniverse, page 27
   This buck was finally mine. I had spent hours shooting at moving targets with that rifle and there was no way I could miss. I raised my gun and sighted through the scope. 2010-10-06, Bryce M. Towsley, Gunsmithing Made Easy: Projects for the Home Gunsmith, Skyhorse Publishing Inc.