babies in the eyes

English

Noun

babies in the eyes pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic, archaic) The minute reflection which one sees of oneself in the eyes of another.
   • 1634 (first performance), Thomas Heywood, Loves Maistresse: Or, The Queens Masque. […], London: […] Robert Raworth, for Iohn Crowch; and are to bee sold by Iasper Emery, […], published 1636, →OCLC, Act I:

     Shee clung about his necke, gave him ten kiſſes, / Toy'd vvith his locks, look'd babies in his eyes, […]

   • 1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:

     "Nay, my lord, you must give me leave to conclude my picture.--Sussex governs England--the Queen's health fails--the succession is to be settled--a road is opened to ambition more splendid than ambition ever dreamed of. You hear all this as you sit by the hob, under the shade of your hall-chimney. You then begin to think what hopes you have fallen from, and what insignificance you have embraced; and all that you might look babies in the eyes of your fair wife oftener than once a fortnight."

References

• “baby”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.