Noun

(in the singular) The ability to see.

* Shakespeare

Thy sight is young, / And thou shalt read when mine begin to dazzle.

* Milton

O loss of sight , of thee I most complain!

The act of seeing; perception of objects by the eye; view.

to gain sight of land

* Bible, Acts i. 9

A cloud received him out of their sight .

Something seen.

* 2005 , Lesley Brown (translator), :

* He's a really remarkable man and it's very hard to get him in one's sights ;

Something worth seeing; a spectacle.

You really look a sight in that silly costume!

* Bible, Exodus iii. 3

Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight , why the bush is not burnt.

* Spenser

They never saw a sight so fair.

A device used in aiming a projectile, through which the person aiming looks at the intended target.

A small aperture through which objects are to be seen, and by which their direction is settled or ascertained.

the sight of a quadrant

* Shakespeare

their eyes of fire sparking through sights of steel

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!

* Gower

a wonder sight of flowers

* 1913 ,

"If your mother put you in the pit at twelve, it's no reason why I should do the same with my lad."

"Twelve! It wor a sight afore that!"

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.

(obsolete) The instrument of seeing; the eye.

* Shakespeare

Why cloud they not their sights ?

Mental view; opinion; judgment.

In their sight it was harmless.

(Wake)

* Bible, Luke xvi. 15

That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Noun

(uncountable) The quality of being different.

(countable) A characteristic of something that makes it different from something else.

* {{quote-magazine, title=Towards the end of poverty

, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=11, magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.}}

(countable) A disagreement or argument.

We have our little differences , but we are firm friends.

* Shakespeare

What was the difference ? It was a contention in public.

* T. Ellwood

Away therefore went I with the constable, leaving the old warden and the young constable to compose their difference as they could.

(countable, uncountable) Significant change in or effect on a situation or state.

* 1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)

The line of the horizon was clear and hard against the sky, and in one particular quarter it showed black against a silvery climbing phosphorescence that grew and grew. At last, over the rim of the waiting earth the moon lifted with slow majesty till it swung clear of the horizon and rode off, free of moorings; and once more they began to see surfaces—meadows wide-spread, and quiet gardens, and the river itself from bank to bank, all softly disclosed, all washed clean of mystery and terror, all radiant again as by day, but with a difference that was tremendous.

(countable) The result of a subtraction; sometimes the absolute value of this result.

(obsolete) Choice; preference.

* Spenser

That now be chooseth with vile difference / To be a beast, and lack intelligence.

(heraldry) An addition to a coat of arms to distinguish two people's bearings which would otherwise be the same. See augmentation and cadency.

(logic) The quality or attribute which is added to those of the genus to constitute a species; a differentia.

(logic circuits) A Boolean operation which is TRUE when the two input variables are different but is otherwise FALSE; the XOR operation ($\backslash scriptstyle\; A\; \backslash overline\; B\; +\; \backslash overline\; A\; B$).

(relational algebra) the set of elements that are in one set but not another ($\backslash scriptstyle\; A\; \backslash overline\; B$).