twinkle in one's father's eye
Before being conceived
A twinkle in one's father's eye refers to a time before one was conceived—when one existed only as a future possibility, perhaps a gleam of romantic intention in a parent's gaze.
The phrase emphasizes how long ago something happened or how recently someone arrived: I was just a twinkle in my father's eye when Kennedy was shot.
Sometimes shortened to before you were a twinkle.
- embryoOrganism before birth
- glimmerFaint, wavering light
- potentialityCapacity to develop
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- unmanifestedNot yet made apparent
zygote · gamete · sperm cell · spark · nascent · lineage · family tree · prelude · future generations · shimmer · progenitor · conception · prenatal · forefather · flicker · heritage · gleam · unconceived
twinkle in one's father's eyedead and buried
Entirely finished, past recovery
six feet under · deceased · departed · pushing up daisies · late
twinkle in one's father's eyealive and kicking
Healthy and active
flesh and blood · in the flesh · here and now · born · existing
twinkle, twinkling, twinkled, twinkles, father, fathers, fatherly, fatherhood, paternity