take a sight

English edit

take a sight (third-person singular simple present takes a sight, present participle taking a sight, simple past took a sight, past participle taken a sight)

Synonym of cock a snook (“perform disrespectful gesture with thumb against the nose”)
- 1854, The New Monthly Magazine, page 455:
  He put his thumb to his nose as he said this and (in familiar phrase) took a sight at me, winking one eye in the most confidential manner, and at the same time gently tapping his breeches pocket.
- 1968, Jacky S, Suburban Souls: The Erotic Psychology of a Man and a Maid, page 263:
  Papa did the best thing he could do under the circumstances: he got up and left us, and as he rose, Lilian put her thumb to her nose, and “took a sight” at him, much to my inward disgust, […]