alegrar a pestana

Galician

Etymology

From alegrar (“to cheer up”) + a (“the”) + pestana (“eyelash”).

Verb

alegrar a pestana (first-person singular present alegro a pestana, first-person singular preterite alegrei a pestana, past participle alegrado a pestana)

1. (idiomatic) to please or delight one's eyes
   • 1775, María Francisca Isla y Losada, Romance:

     Anque à prea non hègrande
     si ca si, ò sacristan
     disque à pestàna do figado
     se lle hiba alegrando já.
     Ô cont'hè, si enturra n'eso
     Deus me libre das suas más,
     que'anque eu non queira, na Coba
     de chantarme heche capàz.

     Although the booty is not large,
     in any case, the sacristan's
     liver's eyes, reportedly,
     were shinning with delight.
     The issue is, if he insist in this,
     God save me from his hands,
     that even if I don't want, in the grave
     he is capable of thrusting me

   • 1864, Rosalía de Castro, Contos da miña Terra, page 19:

     E co esta espransa puxos'a comer con moitas ganas un bo anaco de lacón, qu'a viúda lle dou mollandoo cunha cunca de viño do Ribeiro qu'ardía nun candil, e que ll'alegrou a pestana

     And with this hope he begin to eat, eagerly, a good piece of pork shoulder that the widow gave to him, soaking it with a cup of strong Ribeiro wine that delighted his eyes

References

• “pestana” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “pestana” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “alegrar” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.