See English going in once play's abandoned (4,4,2)
I believe the answer is:
clap eyes on
'see' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'english going in once play's abandoned' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'going in' indicates putting letters inside.
'abandoned' indicates anagramming the letters.
'once'+'plays'='onceplays'
'onceplays' with letters rearranged gives 'clapeyson'.
'e' put into 'clapeyson' is 'CLAP EYES ON'.
(Other definitions for clap eyes on that I've seen before include "Catch sight of" , "Spot" .)