What Does “apple of someone’s eye” mean?
Definition:
This phrase is used to describe someone or something that you love the most.
Origin
The expression was initially just an idiom alluding to the pupil of the eye. physically, the central part of the eye looks like an apple. Figuratively, the phrase refers to something or someone that is cherished above all others.
The idiom is a very old expression. It first appeared in King Alfred’s English translation of the Latin Cura pastoralis. Later, the phrase was used in Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the1590s:
Flower of this purple dye,
Hit with Cupid’s archery,
Sink in apple of his eye
The expression appears in King James Bible translation in 1611:
Deuteronomy 32:10: “He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye”.
Psalm 17:8: “Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings”.
Proverbs 7:2: “Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye”.
Example(s)
His son is the apple of his eye.
He told us that his wife is the apple of his eye.
You’re the apple of my eye.