| 释义 |
▪ I. eye, n.1|aɪ|
Forms: 1 éaᵹe, éᵹe, (éᵹo, éᵹu, ǽᵹe), 2–4 eȝe, 2–3 eȝhe, 2–5 eiȝe (3 ehe), 3–5 eghe, 3–7 eie, 4 egȝe, ei, hei(e, he (north.), 4–5 eyȝe, eyghe, eighe, yȝe, iȝe, 4–7 ey, 5 egh, yghe, ighe, eyhe, ehe, yhe, ye, ie, (hyghe, hye, iey, ȝee, hee, iȝee, ieae), 5–6 e (north.), (eae, iee), 5– north. (and 9 Poet.) ee, 6 iye, yie (yey, ye, yae, eey, i,) 4– eye. pl. α. 1 éaᵹan, ǽᵹan (north. éᵹo, éᵹu), 1–2 éᵹan, 2 eaȝen, 2–4 eȝen, 2–5 eiȝen, 3 eihen, æȝen, ehȝen, 3–5 eghen, eien, 3–5 (7 arch.) eyn, 4 eyiȝen, eiȝyen, ȝeȝen, hegehen, eye, 4–5 eyȝen, yȝen, eyghen, eighen, iȝen, yen(e, ein, 4–6 (9 arch.) eyen, 4–7 (9 arch.) eyne, 5 ighen, yeghen, yhen (eene, eyon, ygne), 5– north. and Sc. een, 6 iyen, ien, yien, (ain) Sc. ene, (6–7 eine, 7 aine, 8–9 Sc. e'en). β. 3 eȝenen, eȝene, eȝhne, 3–5 ehnen, ehne, 4 egghnen, iȝene, ine, ewine, eiine, 5 eghene, enyn (hynon, enghne). γ. 4 eiȝes, 5 yȝes, 6 iyes, yes, ies, yees, ayes, ees, 6–7 eies, (7 eys) 6– eyes. Also with prosthetic n, 5 neghe, ney, 4–6 nie, nye, pl. 5 nyen, -on, -non.
[OE. éage, wk. neut., corresponding to OFris. âge, OS. ôga (MDu. ôghe, Du. oog), OHG. ouga (MHG. ouge, Ger. auge), ON. auga (Da. öie, Sw. öga), Goth. augo:—OTeut. *augon-.
By most scholars referred to the OAryan root *oq- to see, to which belong the synonymous words in all the other branches of the Aryan family exc. Celtic; but the anomalous representation of OAryan o by au instead of a presents difficulties; for various hypotheses intended to account for it see Brugmann Grundriss I. 333, Kluge Etym. Wb. (ed. 5) s.v., Fick Vergl. Wb. (ed. 4) I. 371. Otherwise, no plausible affinities have been found for the Teutonic word.
The original plural was in -an, in ME -en, whence north. dial. een, and archaic eyne. In some forms of ME. a second inflexional -en (reducible to -e) was added, making eȝenen, eȝene, whence in 15th c. enyn. Our first instance of the modern -s plural is a 1375 eiȝes.]
I.
1. The organ of sight. a. in man and vertebrate animals.
a700Epinal Gloss. 1093 Vitiato oculo: unþyotoᵹi eᵹan [a 800 Erfurt Gloss. undyctᵹi æᵹan]. c825Vesp. Psalter xciii. 9 Se ðe hiowede eᵹe ne scewað. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xi. 34 Gif eᵹo ðin bið milde. c1000Ags. Gosp. Matt. v. 29 Gyf þin swyðre eaᵹe þe æ swicie ahola hit ut. c1175Lamb. Hom. 23 Þes monnes eȝan, and his fet, and his hondan. c1200Ormin 9393 Ȝif þatt tin eȝhe iss all unnhal. a1300Cursor M. 9361 (Cott.), Als douues eie hir lok es suete. c1300K. Alis. 1106 His egghnen out of his hed sterte. c1340Cursor M. 3780 (Fairf.), In slepe a ladder him þoȝt he seyghe fra þe firmament riȝt to his eyghe. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, Paulus 557 With fleshy ewine he na se mocht. c1380Chaucer Min. Poems, Merciles Beaute 1 Youre two eyn will sle me sodenly, I may the beaute of them not sustene. c1400Rom. Rose 1023 Hir nose, hir mouth, and eyhe..Wel wrought. c1430Bk. Hawking in Rel. Ant. I. 299 Take a tame heron and drawe out the both eyon of her. 1486Bk. St. Albans B jb, The yolow be twene y Beeke & y⊇ yeghen. 1513–75Diurn. Occurrents (Bannatyne Club) 179 Ane monstrous fische..havand greit ene in the head thairof. a1529Skelton Poems agst. Garnesche 37 Your ien glyster as glasse, Rowlynge in your holow hede. 1586–7Queen Elizabeth in Four C. Eng. Lett. 31 Paine in one of my yees was only the cause. 1605Camden Rem. 125 Piercing the King of Scots through the eie, as Hector Boetius fableth. 1674Brevint Saul at Endor 116 To set new Eies..instead of those that were bored out. 1725Watts Logic ii. v. i. §7 The Distance at which these Glasses are placed from the Eye. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 192 The orbits of the eyes were deeper. 1797Coleridge Sibyl. Leaves (1862) 226 A little sun, no bigger than your ee. 1831Brewster Optics xxxv. §166. 286 The human eye is of a spherical form with a slight projection in front. 1856Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. I. v. 182 The eye of an eagle is nearly as large as that of an elephant. 1858Kingsley Red King 37 His eyne were shotten, red as blood.
b. Poet. attributed to heaven, the sun, etc. the eye of day, eye of heaven = the sun; the eyes of heaven, eyes of night = the stars.
1590Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 4 Her angels face, As the great eye of heaven, shyned bright. 1595Shakes. John iii. i. 79 The glorious sunne..Turning with splendor of his precious eye The meager cloddy earth to glittering gold. c1600― Sonn. xviii, Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines. 1603― Ham. ii. ii. 540 Would haue made milche the Burning eyes of Heauen. 1738Wesley Psalms cxlvii. 2 All ye sparkling Eyes of Night. 1820Scott Monast. xx, The eye of day hath opened its lids.
c. with adjs. denoting the colour of the iris.
c1300Poem vi. in Retrospective Rev. (1853) I. 307 His hegehen war..grai. c1314Guy Warw. (Abbotsf. ed.) 7806 He loked on þe wiþ wrake Sternliche wiþ his eyȝen blake. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 145 That region hath peple with whyte heire, peyntede eien and ȝelowe. 1500–20Dunbar None may Assure x, Ene of amiable blyth asure. 1587L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Horses (1627) 167 The Fleabitten, with a thinne crest, hauing blacke eyne. 1704Pope Windsor For. 351 He turn'd his azure eyes Where Windsor-domes and pompous turrets rise. 1815Scott Guy. M. xxxii, This young man..was upwards of six feet high, had..blue eyes. a1852Moore Fire Worshippers, I never nurs'd a dear gazelle, To glad me with its soft black eye.
transf.1843James Forest Days (1847) 64 The blue eye of heaven had seldom been altogether withdrawn.
d. taken as including the eyelids, or the surrounding parts; the region of the eyes. See black eye 2.
c975Rushw. Gosp. John ix. 6, & ahof ðæt lam ofer eᵹu his. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 108 Wiþ eaᵹena sar..ᵹenim þysse ylcan wyrte seaw, & smyre ða eaᵹan þærmid. c1175Lamb. Hom. 121 Summe þer weren þet his eȝan bunden. a1250Owl & Night. 426 He wolde þat he iseȝe Teres in evrich monnes eȝe. 1375Barbour Bruce i. 547 Hys Eyn with his hand closit he. c1386Chaucer Prol. 10 Smale fowles maken melodie, That slepen al the night with open yhe. 1486Bk. St. Albans B ij a, An hauke that is broght vp vnder a Bussard..hath wateri Eyghen. a1533Ld. Berners Huon xlvii. 157 The pyrates..bounde his handes..and iyen. 1675Hobbes Odyssey xvi. 11 Kisses his head and hands, and both his eyne. 1751Smollett Per. Pic. II. lxxvi. 306 These gummy eyes, lantern jaws, and toothless chaps. 1840E. Howard Jack Ashore III. ix, That kindly looking gentleman, that's blushing up to the eyes.
e. in invertebrate animals. compound eye: see quot. and compound a. 2 d.
1665R. Hooke Micrographia 178 Each of these Pearls..is a perfect eye. 1700T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 87 Their Collections of Rarities exceeds that of John Tradusken for here are..the Eyes of Oysters. 1841–71T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 353 The individual eyes, or ocelli, as we shall term them. 1878Encycl. Brit. VIII. 816/1 The compound eye..consists essentially of a series of transparent cone-like bodies, arranged in a radiate manner against the inner surface of the cornea. Ibid., The eyes of many insects have a field of about half a sphere. 1881Ibid. XIII. 143/2 In the larval state the eyes [of insects] are ordinarily simple, and each eye is usually a congregation of separate eye-spots.
2. Phrases. (For those relating to the function of the eyes, etc. see 3–6).
a. mind († beware) your eye (now vulgar): look to the safety of your eye; fig. be careful. one might put a thing in one's eye (and see never the worse): indicating the insignificance or non-existence of the thing. for, by reason of the fair eyes of: for the sake of; cf. Fr. pour les beaux yeux de.
1509Payne Evyll Marr. 146 As moche as a man may put in his eye. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 34, I might put my winnyng in mine eye, And see neuer the woorse. a1572Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 119, I shall lodge all the men-of-ware into my Eae, that shall land in Scotland. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 222/1 They rule not by reason of their faire eyes. 1583Golding Calvin on Deut. clxxxiv. 1145 It is not for their faire Eyes (as they say). a1663Robin Hood xxxi. in Child Ballads 1888 III. v. cxlv. 201/2 The ladies gave a shout, ‘Woodcock, beware thyn ee!’ a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, All that you get you may put in your Eye and see ne'er the worse. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 224 You must mind your eye, if you are shovelling slop into a cart.
b. Biblical allusions. a beam, a mote in one's eye (Matt. vii. 3). See also mote n.1 1 a. eye for eye (Exod. xxi. 24).
c1000[see beam n.1 3 a]. a1300Cursor M. 6701 (Cott.) Ei for ei, and toth for toht. 1570G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 5 To pluck out the beame out of his own i. 1910Galsworthy Sheaf (1916) 120 The old theory, ‘an eye for an eye’ condemned to death over nineteen hundred years ago, but still dying very hard in this Christian country. 1938G. Greene Brighton Rock i. iii. 58 That's what I always say—an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 1942E. Paul Narrow St. iii. 27 Thérèse's code was ‘an eye for an eye’, and the result of her interference was salutary in the extreme.
c. Colloq. to pipe the eye, to put the finger in the eye: derisively used for to weep. to cry one's eyes out: to weep excessively. eyes out = all out advb. phr. 4; esp. in phr. to go eyes out (Austral. and N.Z. colloq.).
1590Shakes. Com. Err. ii. ii. 206 No longer will I be a foole, To put the finger in the eie and weepe. c1626Dick of Devon iii. iv. in Bullen O. Pl. (1883) II. 58 Would one have thought the foolish ape would putt The finger in the eye and tell it daddy! 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. i. v. §22 So blubber'd with teares, that she may seem almost to have wept her eyes out. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 27, I can't help it, if I would cry my Eyes out. 1863E. R. Chudleigh Diary 8 Jan. (1950) iii. 63 My horse turning to quickly while I was going eyes out, fell and rowled oaver. 1883Stevenson Treasure Isl. iv. xix, The smoke..kept us coughing and piping the eye. a1894Mod. ditty, Cry, baby, cry; put your finger in your eye. 1895J. Roberts Diary 28/1 You weren't travelling ‘eyes out’ were you? 1907Mrs. Hawdon N.Z.ers & Boer War ix. 185 We went ‘eyes out’ to catch up. 1945J. Pascoe in N.Z. Geographer Apr. 24 Musterers go ‘eyes out’ to keep the sheds fed with sheep.
d. colloq. or slang. Referring to drinking or drunkenness. (See also wet v. 7 d.)
1601Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 205 O he's drunke..his eyes were set at eight i'th morning. 1610― Temp. iii. ii. 10 Drinke seruant Monster..thy eies are almost set in thy head. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 15 You must own you had a Drop in your Eye..you were half Seas over. 1789Burns O Willie brewed a peck o' maut, We're nae that fou, But just a drappie in our e'e. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg., Bagman's Dog xix, She ask'd him to ‘wet t'other eye’.
e. up to the (also one's) eyes: fig. deeply immersed or occupied; also, very much; completely, to the limit; painted (up) to the eyes: heavily made-up with cosmetics; (mortgaged) up to the eyes: to the utmost limit.
1778A. Murphy Know your own Mind i. 10 Up to his eyes Sir Richard was in love with her. 1786E. Sheridan Let. 2 July (1960) 91 Miss or Mrs McCartney who was sitting with her poor palsied head dress'd with flowers and painted up to the eyes. 1848E. Ruskin Let. in W. James Order of Release (1948) v. 114 Lady Morgan who is..painted up to the eyes. 1866Trollope Claverings (1867) I. viii. 97 All the Burtons are full up to their eyes with good sense. 1884Reade Gd. Stories, Born to Gd. Luck, A neighbour's estate, mortgaged up to the eyes, was sold under the hammer. 1885A. Dobson At Sign of Lyre 4 The ladies of St. James's! They're painted to the eyes. 1889G. Stables in Boy's Own Paper 16 Nov. 103/3 The stewards were up to their eyes packing baskets and making preparations. 1949A. Wilson Wrong Set 89 Daisy's up to her eyes at the minute trying to jog the local party into action.
f. to (make a person) open (his) eyes: to (make him) stare with astonishment. to close an eye (negatively), to † lay, put one's eyes together: to go to sleep. † my eyes draws straws (vulgar): I am sleepy. to close one's eyes to (something): to ignore, refuse to recognize or consider; to shut one's eyes to, against, on: see shut v. 4 a.
1633T. James Voy. 36 Not one of them put his eyes together all the night long. 1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 350 He could not lay his Eyes together. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 214 I'm sure 'tis time for honest Folks to be a-bed—Indeed my Eyes draws straws. 1814D. H. O'Brien Narrative Escape 132, I never closed an eye. The night at length elapsed. 1889Jessopp Coming of Friars ii. 72 The new fashions made his neighbours open their eyes. 1923J. S. Huxley Ess. Biologist p. x, Most of man⁓kind..close their eyes to this possibility.
g. Sporting. to wipe the eye of another shooter: to kill game that he has missed. (See also wipe v. 9 d.)
1886Walsingham & Payne-Gallwey Shooting I. 128 If you do perchance wipe the eye..of another shooter..apologize.
h. slang or vulgar. all my eye: all humbug, ‘stuff and nonsense’; also, in same sense, † all in the eye. my eye(s! used as an expression of astonishment or asseveration. my eye also used as an expression of emphatic denial; hence as n., nonsense. See also Betty Martin.
1768Goldsm. Good-n. Man ii, That's all my eye—the king only can pardon. 1782George Bateman II. 113 That's all my eye, and my elbow, as the saying is. 1785Grose Class. Dict. Vulg. Tongue s.v. Betty Martin, That's my eye betty martin. 1819Moore Tom Crib's Mem. Congress 2 All my eye, Betty. 1824S. E. Ferrier Inher. I. xxxi. 344 [A bride] sobbed aloud..although, as Bob and Davy afterwards declared, that was all in the eye. 1811Poole Hamlet Travestied i. i., As for black clothes,—that's all my eye and Tommy. 1826T. Creevey Let. 11 Aug. in J. Gore Creevey's Life (1902) x. 226 My eye, what a spot for a ‘walky, walky’. 1838Dickens O. Twist viii, ‘My eyes, how green!’ exclaimed the young gentle⁓man. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xvi, Church, my eye, woman! church indeed. 1842Hood Spring xi, The tenderness of Spring is all my eye. 1871Punch 30 Dec. 271 1 ‘Nothing in the papers!’ Isn't there, though. My eye! 1920D. H. Lawrence Let. 25 Jan. (1962) I. 617 One becomes indifferent to all political fates—Fiumes, Jugo-Slavakias and such like my-eye. 1929W. Faulkner Sound & Fury 138 ‘How about Bigelow's Mill..that's a factory.’ ‘Factory my eye.’
i. damn one's eyes: see damn v. 5.
j. to give one's eyes: (hyperbolically) to make a great sacrifice; to be willing to give up anything (to be able to do a specified thing). Cf. give v. 9 c.
1857Trollope Barchester T. II. xiv. 273 Bertie would give his eyes to go with you. 1875L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) 120, I gave up directly with a very good grace, considering that I would have given my eyes to go.
k. to do (someone) in the eye: to defraud, injure, humiliate.
1891J. M. Dixon Dict. Idiomatic Phrases 92 The jockey did your friend in the eye over that horse. 1908Punch 20 May 367/1 Done in the eye again. What on earth do you expect? 1922F. M. Ford Let. 12 Feb. (1965) 138, I have just caught a publisher out, doing me in the eye flagrantly over concealed profits. 1922F. Hamilton P. J.: Secret Service Boy i. 38 That woman means to do you in the eye, and to score off you. 1930J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement v. 218 He'd invented the job five minutes before, just to do mother in the eye.
3. a. With reference to its function: The eye as possessing the power of vision. Often pleonastically for emphasis in to see with one's own eyes, † with (or at) eye.
In Eng. as in other langs. to lose an eye often means merely to become blind of one eye; similarly to put out the eyes = to deprive of sight.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 53/215 Huy i-seien alle with eiȝe. 1297R. Glouc. (1724) 376 Me ssolde pulte oute boþe hys eye, & make hym pur blynd. a1300Cursor M. 11324 (Cott.) Symeon..he o ded suld neuer die, Till he suld se crist self wit ei. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 100 Men mosten more thyng beleve Then they may seen at eighe. c1450Bk. Curtasye 323 in Babees Bk. (1868) 308 Gase not on walles with þy neghe. 1513Douglas æneis iii. x. 12 All his solace for tinsale of his E. 1539Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 13 That the eye seeth not, y⊇ herte rueth not. 1584D. Powel Lloyd's Cambria 31 Let them belieue no more but what they see with their Eies. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxv. 136 Many eys see more then one. 1707J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 350, I have seen it with my own Eyes. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 199 They say, Hedges have Eyes, and Walls have Ears. 1776Trial of Nundocomar 24/2, I have seen him..with my own eyes take off his seal. 1820Keats St. Agnes xxxix, There are no ears to hear or eyes to see. 1846Greener Sc. Gunnery 300 We..have a friend who lost an eye and blew down a house side. 1871Rossetti Poems, Dante at Verona xxxiii, Thou hast beheld, past sight of eyne. 1878Encycl. Brit. VIII. 822/2 If we wish to see each word distinctly, we ‘run the eye’ along the line.
b. Phrases. (to have but) half an eye: even the smallest power of vision. (to see) with half an eye: at a glance, without effort. † at the eye's end: close at hand. to open any one's eyes: to restore his sight. † to put out one's eyes with gifts: fig. to bribe. where are your eyes? said to a person who fails to observe what he ought to see. with all one's eyes, with all the eyes in one's head: with eager gaze. eagle eye: see eagle 10. the naked eye: see naked. eyes and no eyes: used to express the difference between an observant and an unobservant person; so, said of or to a person who fails to observe; hence used as the title of a book or series of books dealing with the observation of natural objects. to keep one's eye(s) peeled or skinned: see the pples. to have eyes to see: to be observant or discerning. to keep one's eyes open: to be watchful or observant.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 94 He [Jesus] openede my yȝen. a1547Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark Pref. 4 Ought with all the iyen in theyr heades to watche. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 348 Euery man that hath but halfe an eye, seeth these grosse inconsequences. 1598Pelegromius Synonym. Sylva 35/2 To Bribe; vide to put out ones eyes with giftes. 1598W. Phillips Linschoten (1864) 190 These Haraffos..can discerne it [counterfeit money] with half an eye. 1611Bible Ps. cxlvi. 8 The Lord openeth the eyes of the blinde. 1627–77Feltham Resolves i. x. 15 We judg them near, at the eyes end. 1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 10 The Captain..seeing the Light, ask'd the Master, Where his Eyes were? 1794Aiken & Barbauld Evenings at Home IV. 93 (heading) Eyes, and no eyes; or, The Art of seeing. 1860Russell Diary India II. xiii, I looked with all my eyes, but they failed to detect any difference. 1865C. M. Yonge Clever Woman Fam. iii, ‘There is a wonderful charm in a circumscribed view, because one is obliged to look well into it all.’ ‘Yes; eyes and no eyes apply there,’ said Rachel. 1867(title) Eyes and no eyes. A magazine of meteorology and natural history. 1873Geo. Eliot Let. 17 Nov. (1955) V. 461 Now we are keeping eyes and ears open for any hint of another little country place. 1883Stevenson Treasure Isl. iv. xviii, I saw with half an eye that all was over. 1901(title) Cassell's ‘Eyes and No Eyes’ series. 1912G. L. Strachey Landmarks Fr. Lit. vi. 228 To him who had eyes to see, there might be significance in a ready-made suit of clothes, and passion in the furniture of a boarding-house. 1939E. M. Forster What I Believe 18 With this type of person knocking about, and constantly crossing one's path if one has eyes to see or hands to feel, the experiment of earthly life cannot be dismised as a failure. 1965Listener 22 July 113/1 During the three weeks I stayed in Dar-es-Salaam, keeping my eyes open and renewing contacts, I was hard put to find evidence of Chinese influence.
c. fig.; esp. as attributed to the heart, mind, or to quasi-personified objects.
c1040Rule St. Benet (Logeman) 2 Geopenedum eaᵹum urum. c1175Lamb. Hom. 157 [He] mid þe eȝene of his hoste bihalt in to houene and sicð þe muchele blisse þet he is to ilected. c1230Hali Meid. 3 Opene to understonde þe ehne of þin heorte. 1460in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 187 Mi goostli iȝen ben ful of dust. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 435 Sleepe..sometimes shuts vp sorrowes eie. 1687T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 82 This it is to want the eye of faith. a1703Burkitt On N.T. Mark vi. 6 A spiritual eye can discern beauty in an humbled and abased Saviour. 1837Newman Par. Serm. (ed. 2) III. xxiii. 372 Excitement, which has power to fascinate the eye of our minds. 1851Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. ii. vi. 166 To witness facts with the eyes of reason. 1856Grindon Life i. (1875) 5 Science needs all its eyes..to discern it.
d. Applied to a person who uses his eyes on behalf, or instead, of another. spec. a detective agency or a detective, esp. a private one (see private eye); a lookout man; see also quot. 1914 (slang orig. U.S.).
1382Wyclif Job xxix. 15 An eȝe I was to blinde. 1588A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 173, I haue been ane Ee to y⊇ blind. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 650 The seav'n Who..are his Eyes That..Bear his swift errands. 1689Hickeringill Ceremony-monger, Wks. (1716) II. 503 The Bishop's great Eye (Mr. Arch-deacon) is getting himself a Stomach to his Dinner. 1806Wordsw. Ode Intim. Immort. 112 Thou best Philosopher..thou Eye among the blind. 1836–48B. D. Walsh Aristoph. 17 note, The Kings of Persia had certain officers who were called ‘his Eyes’. 1914Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 31 Eye (the),..The Pinkerton Detective Agency; an operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Example: ‘Blow this joint; it's protected by the Eye.’ 1936J. G. Brandon Pawnshop Murder x. 90 As the existence of this watcher had been known for some considerable time to Inspector McCarthy..that astute young gentleman gave the ‘eye’ no chance to weigh upon him. 1955Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxiv. 141 The [Pinkerton Detective] agency is called the eye, from its trademark, the all-seeing eye.
e. fig. Applied to a city, country, province, etc.: The seat of intelligence or light.
1599Hakluyt Voy. II. 118 The eyes of the realme, Cambridge, and Oxford. 1671Milton P.R. iv. 240 Athens, the eye of Greece. 1680Morden Geog. Rect., England (1685) 25 In the beautiful Body of the Kingdom of England, the two Eyes are the two Universities. 1845R. W. Hamilton Pop. Educ. vii. (ed. 2) 165 Massachusetts..is the eye of the States. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 355 Corinth the eye of Greece.
f. Applied in local names to a prominent natural object, such as a hill or island.
1837Penny Cycl. IX. 165/2 Ireland's Eye, a rocky picturesque island of thirty acres. 1891Dixon Dict. Idiomatic Eng. Phrases s.v. Eye, The eye of the Baltic—Gothland, or Gottland, an island in the Baltic. 1904Daily Chron. 14 Sept. 5/1 A low rugged hill, nicknamed ‘Kuropatkin's eye’.
g. A mechanical or electrical device resembling an eye in its function or appearance; cf. electric eye, magic eye.
1955Sci. News Let. 15 Oct. 243/1 Humans are still needed to direct the plane until the 15-mile limit, when its radar ‘eyes’ spot the attacking bomber. 1959Listener 19 Feb. 327/1 The instrument used is called a proton magnetometer. It consists of two parts: the sensing element, or ‘eye’, which is a half-pint bottle of water with a 1,000-turn coil of wire wound tightly around it [etc.]. 1962Daily Tel. 24 Apr. 20/6 The Ranger's ‘eyes’, or light-sensitive diodes, were to..keep the space-craft on course.
4. a. Used in sing. and pl. for: The action or function of the eyes; the sense of seeing; ‘ocular knowledge’ (J.), sight. Chiefly in phrases: (to have) before one's eyes: lit. and fig. to believe one's (own) eyes. to catch, † fix, strike, take the eye. † at (first) eye: at first sight. to meet the eye: see meet v. 2 e and f. to look (someone) in (occas. at) the eye(s): to look directly at; to look in the face (see face n. 2 b). to collect eyes: see collect v. 1 g.
a1200Vices & Virtues 49 He litlėde him seluen to-foren mannes eiȝen. c1400Apol. Loll. 50 Þat for a tym desceyuiþ & iapiþ þe ȝee, but þis biggiþ þe vnderstonding perpetual. 1440Test. Ebor. (Surtees) ii. 76 Þai, havand Gode before þer eyghen, do trewe execution of þis my presentt testament. 1471Arriv. Edw. IV (Camden) 38 It appered to every mann at eye the sayde partie was extincte. 1509Fisher Wks. i. (1876) 68 Al thynges be naked and open to his [God's] eyen. a1541Wyatt Poet. Wks. (1861) 22 With false favour..you deceive th'ayes. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1986/1 The English capteines..perceiuing at eie that..they were not able to anie aduantage to mainteine this onset. 1599Shakes. Much Ado iv. i. 72 Is this face Heroes? are our eies our owne? 1605― Macb. iii. i. 125 Masking the Businesse from the common Eye. 1653Marvell Corr. i. Wks. 1872–5 II. 4 Demonstrating to the ey which way we ought to travell. 1672Sir T. Browne Lett. Friend x. (1881) 134 A weak physiognomist might say at first eye, this was a face of earth. 1715J. Richardson Th. Painting 62 The Death of Ananias..immediately takes the Eye. 1717Pope Ep. Jervas 33 Thy well-study'd marbles fix our eye. 1784Cowper Task ii. 818 Every plague that can infest Society..meets the eye. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 207 The conflict in the royal mind did not escape the eye of Barillon. 1870Conington æneid vi. (1873) 201 Banquets smile before their eyne. 1880,1896[see look v. 1 e]. 1931E. A. Guest Friendly Way 23, I want to be able as days go by Always to look myself straight in the eye. 1933H. L. Ickes Secret Diary (1953) I. 97, I looked those mayors in the eye and I told them what the exact truth was. 1965Listener 1 July 4/1 To be modern enough to look the great industrial powers in the eye on a basis of full equality.
†b. in (the) eye: in appearance. by the eye: ? in unlimited quantity. Obs.
c1394P. Pl. Crede 84 Grete-hedede quenes wiþ gold by þe eiȝen. c1592Marlowe Jew of Malta iii. iv, Thou shalt have broth by the eye. 1613Beaum. & Fl. Kn. Burn. Pestle ii. ii, Here's mony and gold bith' eie my boy. 1684R. H. Sch. Recreat. 117 Mark out the Head of your Pond, and make it the highest part of the Ground in the eye, tho' it be the lowest in the true Level.
†c. Range of vision, view, sight. Only in phrases: in eye; in, into, out of (a person's) eye. Obs. in lit. sense.
1599Warn. Faire Wom. ii. 770 A very bloudy act..committed in eye of court. 1602Shakes. Ham. iv. iv. 6 We shall expresse our dutie in his eye. 1644Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 125 He fights in the eye of his Prince. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. v. ii. (1675) 301 Ill manag'd Persecutions of Doctrine..bring them into every body's Eye. 1670Cotton Espernon i. ii. 82 He was no sooner remov'd out of his Eye, than that confidence began to stagger. 1673Chas. II in Lauderdale Papers (1885) III. ii. 2 Your sone Yester (who comes but seldome in my eye). 1677A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 38 A Harbour..in the very Eye of France. 1711Steele Spect. No. 113 ⁋4 She helped me to some Tansy in the Eye of all the Gentlemen in the Country. 1900J. K. Jerome Three Men on Bummel i. 17 Mr. Pertwee asked me if I had a skipper in my eye.
d. fig. in one's (mind's) eye: in one's mental view, in contemplation. (See also mind n.1 17 d.)
1602Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 185, I see my father..In my minds eye. c1680Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 411 He must always have it in his eye. 1713Berkeley Ess. in Guardian vi. Wks. 1871 III. 163 The sages whom I have in my eye speak of virtue as the most amiable thing in the world. 1726Leoni tr. Alberti's Archit. II. 55 b, Some had nothing in their eye, but adorning that which was to contain the body. 1791‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. Pref. (1809) 54 Having the safety of man's neck in my eye. 1818Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 414, I have..the little thatched cottages of Waltham Chase..in my mind's eye.
e. (See quots.)
1933L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 21 Oct. 15/7 Force..is different from eye, the dog's control of sheep by staring them in the face. 1938J. H. McCulloch Sheep Dogs ii. 11 The most striking characteristic of the Border Collie is the one which shepherds refer to as ‘The Eye’, or the power of the dog to control sheep with its eyes.
5. a. With reference to the direction of the eye; hence often equivalent to: Look, glance, gaze. Often with verbs like cast, lift, turn, etc. † to change, mingle eyes (with): to exchange amorous glances (with). to make eyes at; to throw the eye at: to throw amorous or covetous glances at. † to throw out one's eyes for: to look out for. to see eye to eye (orig. a misapplication of Isa. lii. 8): to be of one mind, think alike (usu. in negative contexts). to cut eyes or one's eye: to cast a glance or glances (U.S. slang) (see also quot. 1961). eyes on stalks: eyes protruding with amazement, fear, inquisitiveness, etc.
c975Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xvii. 8 Ða hiᵹ hyra eaᵹan upphofon, ne ᵹesawon hiᵹ nænne. a1225Ancr. R. 54 Eue, þi moder, leop efter hire eien; urom hire eien to þe eppel, vrom þe eppel i parais adun to þes eorðe. c1320R. Brunne Medit. 643 To hyr fadyr he kast hys yen. c1485Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 572 The Iey ys euer the messenger of foly. 1535Coverdale Ecclus. xxvii. 1 He that seketh to be riche turneth his eyes asyde. 1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 143 On my face he turn'd an eye of death. 1604― Oth. ii. i. 39 As well to see the Vessel that's come in As to throw-out our eyes for braue Othello. 1606― Ant. & Cl. iii. xiii. 156 Would you mingle eyes With one that tyes his points. 1610― Temp. i. ii. 441 At the first sight They haue chang'd eyes. 1781Cowper Conversation 485 Modestly let fall your eyes. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. iii. xv, Each..curs'd me with his ee. 1827L. Dow Jrnl. (1850) 177/2 Went to New York, took steamboat to New Brunswick thence stage No. 7, strangers crossed words and cut eyes. 1837Southern Lit. Messenger III. 233 ‘Why, we thought about here’ said he ‘that you were cutting your eye at Miss Gatty.’ 1842S. Lover Handy Andy viii, Is it one of my colleens you've been throwing the eye at, Sir? 1852Thackeray Esmond iii. i, She used to make eyes at the Duke of Marlborough. 1879Print. Trades Jrnl. xxvi. 4 Unable to see eye to eye with the subscribers. 1885‘C. E. Craddock’ Prophet Gt. Smoky Mts. xv. 288 Ter see him cut his blazin' eye aroun' at ye, ye'd low ez he'd never hearn o' grace. 1935C. Isherwood Mr. Norris changes Trains v. 84 I'm afraid Schmidt and I don't quite see eye to eye on the subject just at present. 1935W. Fortescue Perfume from Provence 178, I found myself hugging the edge of a positive precipice... With eyes on stalks I drove on. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling xi. 102 Look at him cut his eyes. 1955Times 10 May 9/4 The two Governments do not see eye to eye. 1958M. Stewart Nine Coaches Waiting ix. 130 What they call a small private party'd make your eyes stand out on stalks, as the saying is. 1961F. G. Cassidy Jamaica Talk vii. 137 A cut-eye is the action of ‘cutting’ the eye at someone by way of insult—that is, catching the person's eye, then deliberately turning one's own away.
b. In words of command. Mil. (see quots.); so in Boating, Eyes in the Boat.
1832Prop. Regul. Instr. Cavalry ii. 35 Its Leader gives the word ‘Eyes Centre’. 1833Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 13 On the word Eyes Right, glance the eyes to the right with the slightest turn possible of the head. At the word Eyes Left, cast the eyes in like manner to the left. On the word Eyes Front, the look and head are to be directly to the front, the habitual position of the soldier. 1837Dickens Pickw. iv, The command ‘eyes front’ had been given. 1859F. A. Griffiths Artill. Man. (1862) 152 Captains will give the word ‘Eyes right’, or ‘left’, as the inspecting officer comes to their batteries, ‘Eyes front’ when he has passed. 1887Times (weekly ed.) 18 Nov. 2/5 The words of command were..‘Eyes front; by your right; quick march’.
c. with adjs. expressing the disposition or feeling of the person looking, as angry, contemptuous, friendly, jealous, loving, wondering.
a1300Cursor M. (4078) Cott. Ne wald þai apon him sei Fra þis dai forth wit blithful ei. Ibid. 17837 (Cott.) Til heuen þai lifted þair eien brade. c1400Rom. Rose 4264 If oon be fulle of vylanye, Another hath a likerous ighe. 1556Aurelio & Isab. (1608) E iv, Chaste and shame⁓faste ees. 1611Bible Prov. xxii. 9 Hee that hath a bounti⁓full eye, shall bee blessed. 1735Pope Prol. Sat. 199 View him with..jealous eyes. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 161 Bowls, horseracing, were regarded with no friendly eye.
d. the glad eye: see glad a. 4 d.
e. to turn a blind eye: to refuse to take any notice of a situation, state of affairs, etc.
[1809Clarke & M'Arthur Life of Nelson II. iii. iii. 270 Putting the glass to this blind eye, he [sc. Nelson] exclaimed, I really do not see the signal. ]1823M. Wilmot Let. 1 Oct. (1935) 197, I turn a blind eye and a deaf ear every now and then, and we get on marvellously well. 1923J. M. Murry Pencillings 92 We turn a blind eye to the signals which a writer hoists against our expectation. 1925B. N. Odell in E. F. Norton Fight for Everest, 1924 290 The Tibetans appear to turn a blind eye to the wholesale slaughter involved in the collection..of over 10,000 specimens by our ardent Natural Historian. 1927G. K. Chesterton Coll. Poems 108 Nelson turned his blindest eye On Naples and on liberty. 1963Times 7 Mar. 16/6 The police turn a blind eye to this problem because they are only too glad to get lorries from parking on the main roads.
f. eyes down: with one's eyes looking down, spec. of bingo-players (see bingo2) looking at their cards; hence as n., the start of a game of bingo.
1962Daily Tel. 25 June 11 The players kept their ‘eyes down’ for nearly three hours competing for 10 prizes. 1966P. Moloney Plea for Mersey 50 And into the Bingo hall I flew. Eyes down—click click—the game is on. 1969Oxf. Mail 17 Jan. 2 (Advt.), Plaza Bingo Club... Eyes Down 7.45. Doors Open 6.0 p.m.
g. a gleam (glint, twinkle) in one's eye, a barely formed idea; spec. a child who has not yet been conceived.
1964C. Driver Disarmers x. 242 As for mass revolutionary civil disobedience, this was never really much more than a gleam in Ralph Schoenman's eye. 1965E. Lacy Double Trouble x. 134 You were on the force when I was a gleam in my pop's sexy eye. 1965B. Sweet-Escott Baker Street Irregular ii. 50 At the time of his arrival.., all this was hardly more than a glint in Colin's eyes. 1966Guardian 10 Nov. 3/7 The proposal remains but a twinkle in the Home Secretary's eye. 1967Ibid. 2 Jan. 8/1 This ‘walkers’ route is now no more than a gleam in the eye—but so was the Pennine Way when Tom Stephenson first thought of it.
6. a. An attentive or observing look, lit. and fig.; observation, supervision; attention, regard. Chiefly in phrases: (to be) all eyes: all attention. † to bear, give, good eyes upon: to pay close attention to, watch attentively. to give an eye to: to give a share of one's attention to. to keep, have an (one's) eye † after, upon: to keep watch upon. under the eye of: under the observation or attention of. to keep, have an (or one's) eye on: to keep watch upon; to observe carefully or be wary of; hence, to desire or intend to obtain; to approve of.
c1430Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 3934 Segryne had euer on him his eye. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 527 Looke ye bere good yȝes vppon oþur connynge kervers. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 695, I mon..eirnestly efter him haue myne Eay. 1586J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 26/2 Maurice Fitzgerald..gaue good eie and watched the matter verie narowlie. 1605Chapman All Fooles iii. i. sig. F 1 Rin. What would he be, If you should not restrayne him by good connsell? Gost. Ile haue an eye on him, I warrant thee. 1610Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 59 No tongue: all eyes: be silent. 1641Milton Animadv. Wks. (1851) 219 He..hath yet ever had this Island under the special indulgent eye of his Providence. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 211 It was supposed the Earle of Essex had an eie upon Oxford. 1818Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 64, I shall keep my eye upon them. 1824Medwin Convers. Byron (1832) I. 53, I had..fallen under the eye of the Government. 1851W. Clark in W. Bolland Cricket Notes 141 There he was sure to be with his eye on every one to see if all was right. 1874N. & Q. 5th Ser. I. 361/2 Have one's eye on; i.e., to approve of. 1877Independent 23 Aug. 20/2 The Devil already controls Chicago, and we have heard it intimated that he has his eye on New York. 1895W. S. Gilbert Foggerty's Fairy in Original Plays 3rd Ser. 29 I'll keep my eye on that young man. 1900H. James Notebks. (1947) 398 Chad has meanwhile continued to deny..that he has his eye on Mlle de Vionnet, that her mother has..hers on him. 1945E. Bowen Demon Lover 92, I needn't exactly hurry. I just ought to keep an eye on the time. 1956A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Att. i. iv. 156 ‘And now you are going to leave us, Mr Middleton, we shall miss you very much.’ It was usually said by the mothers who had their eye on rich young bachelors. Ibid. ii. ii. 319 You asked me to keep an eye on that Larrie Rourke.
b. to have an eye to: to look to, pay attention to; to have as one's object, have regard for; to have reference to. with an eye to: with a view to; with a design upon.
1375Barbour Bruce vi. 523 The Kyng..Till thame, and nouthir ellis-quhar Had ey. Ibid. xii. 306, I pray ȝhow That nane of ȝow for gredynes Haf E till tak of thair Richess. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 73 b, Some feareth synne & payne bothe, hauynge an eye and respecte to bothe in maner indifferently. 1535Coverdale 2 Macc. viii. 2 They called vpon the Lorde, yt he wolde haue an eye vnto his people. 1593Nashe Four Lett. Confut. 67 Haue an eie to the maine-chaunce. 1607Bacon Ess., Counsel (Arb.) 322 Men will Councell with an eye to them⁓selves. 1641Jrnl. Ho. Comm. II. 183 An especial eye may be had over all Counties, where Papists are most residing. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 210 Have still an Eye to the weeding and cleansing Part. 1713Steele Englishman No. 11. 74 A Man will have an Eye to his first Appearance in Publick. 1756C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 285 The gentlemen of the corporation..have..no small eye to gain. 1838Lytton Alice 171 Maltravers has an eye to the county, one of these days. 1861Thornbury Turner I. 358 He collects analytical diagrams of Dutch boats, with an eye to get nearer to Vandervelde. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 58 What I said about the Cretan laws..had an eye to war only. 1888Froude Eng. in W. Indies 40 Gold and silver plate, he observed with an eye to business was..abundant.
c. to have eyes for: to pay attention to; to be interested in or attracted to (freq. in contexts excluding all but one person or thing); to desire. (Hence eyes is used in U.S. slang to mean ‘a desire or inclination’.)
1810J. Porter Scottish Chiefs IV. xii. 357 Helen had eyes for none but Wallace. 1923J. S. Huxley Ess. Biologist i. 56 To be so horrifiedly fascinated by it as not to have eyes for anything else. 1934A. Dubin (song title) I only have eyes for you. 1948New Yorker 3 July 28 Have you eyes for a sandwich? 1951W. Sansom Face of Innocence xiii. 189 There's a gaz-and-pneu baron from Bormes has only eyes for her. 1955L. Feather Encycl. Jazz x. 346 Eyes, desire, ambition. (‘No eyes’—‘I'm not interested’.)
d. to keep, have an eye (or a sharp eye) out: to be very alert or watchful.
1889‘Mark Twain’ Yankee ii. 17, I moved away,..keeping an eye out for any chance passenger in his right mind. 1942Horizon July 57 She's got a sharp eye out, Mrs Pike has.
7. (in sing. only). The faculty of perception or discrimination of visual objects, either in general or in some special connexion. Often in phrases: to have, with, the eye of (a painter, etc.). to have an eye for (proportion, etc.). (to estimate, etc.) by (the) eye: as opposed to measurement, etc. Also, Sport: to have, get, one's eye (well) in: to be or become able to judge accurately of distance and direction, as in Billiards, Shooting, etc. a straight eye: see straight a. 7.
1657Austen Fruit Trees ii. 93 Shew clearly (to a discerning eie). 1715J. Richardson Th. Painting 150 He has a Good Eye on the Sense, as one is said to have a Good Ear for Musick. 1719― Art Crit. 188 It does not appear to have been done by any other help than the Correctness of the Eye. 1774M. Mackenzie Maritime Surv. 88 Estimate by the Eye the Distance of C from A. 1796Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 67 The leader of the column will march by his eye. 1847L. Hunt Jar Honey Pref. (1848) 9 Who saw their colours with the eye of a painter. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 433 He had not..the eye of a great captain for all the turns of a battle. 1865J. Pycroft Cricketana xi. 216 As to his guess hits..we can only suppose..that he reserves them till his ‘eye is well in’, and he has observed the uniform break or rise of the ball. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) II. 271 An eye for proportion is needed. 1882Bell's Life in London 1 July 4/6 Bannerman..though he must have fairly ‘got his eye in’, scarcely ever attempted to hit. 1884Q. Rev. No. 316. 482 Their eyes were well in. 1912A. Brazil New Girl at St. Chad's vii. 115 When you're in doubt, watch each ball carefully, till you get your eye in.
8. fig. Point of view, manner or way of looking at a thing; estimation, opinion, judgement. In phrases: in, with the eye(s of (a person). in the public eye. Also, in the eye of (the) law, logic, etc.: according to the terms or rules of. to look with another eye upon: to take a different view of.
a1340Hampole Psalter Prol., Faire & lufly in cristes eghen. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. vii. 112 Some offence, That seemes disgracious in the Cities eye. a1617Bayne On Eph. (1658) 48 God doth give us love in the eies of some good man. 1628Coke On Litt. fol. 58 Court baron..in the eye of Law it hath relation to the Freeholders, who are Judges of the Court. 1635A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 56 Sinnes more odious even in our own eies. 1643Udall Serm. (1645) 37 To his sad disconsolate wife, mourning too too much, in his eye [etc.]. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 206 The King..became more considerable in the eyes of the World, then any of his predecessors. 1683Lond. Gaz. No. 1835/3 If the City should Look upon it with another Eye. 1742Pope Dunc. iv. 534 Self-conceit to some her glass applies, Which no one looks in with another's eyes. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxxvi. 286 Persons not lying under..attainder were innocent in the eye of the law. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xxviii, No other marriage of his shall ever be legal in my eye. 1818Byron Juan i. lxviii, I can't tell whether Julia saw the affair With other people's eyes, or if her own Discoveries made. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xiii. 281 In the eye of logic or of sound morals. 1882W. Ballantine Experiences xix. 185 He was a man of mark in the eyes of my family.
† II. 9. a. Slight shade, tinge. (Cf. F. œil). Obs.
1610Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 55 Ant. The ground indeed is tawny. Seb. With an eye of greene in't. a1641Suckling Goblins iii. (ed. 2) 25 None of these Beards will serve, There's not an eye of white in them. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 499 This..name seemeth to have in it an eye or cast of Greek and Latin. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1972) 204 A natural Earth with an Eye of Loam in it. 1677Plot Oxfordsh. 279 A true blue dye, having an eye of red. 1699Evelyn Acetaria 98 Oyl..with an Eye..of..Olive green.
b. (See quot.)
1736Bailey (folio), Eye, the lustre and brilliant of pearls and precious stones, more usually call'd the water.
III. An object resembling the eye in appearance, shape, or relative position.
10. On plants:
a. the axillary bud; the leaf-bud of a potato;
b. the remains of the calyx on fruit;
c. the centre of a flower.
1615W. Lawson Orch. & Gard. iii. x. (1668) 26 Let your graff have three or four eyes for readiness to put forth. 1672–3Grew Anat. Plants ii. i. i. §7 Potato's [root] where the Eyes or Buds of the future Trunks lie inward. 1710London & Wise Compl. Gard. (1719) 167 Apples..may be plac'd either upon the Eye or Stalk. 1772Foote Nabob ii. Wks. 1799 II. 303 For pip, colour, and eye, I defy the whole parish..to match 'em [polyanthuses]. 1787Winter Syst. Husb. 157 Six scotch potatoes, cut into thirty-three sets, with two eyes each. 1858Carpenter Veg. Phys. §121 The points commonly known as the eyes of the Potato. Ibid. §586 By the remains of the calyx..the eye of the gooseberry is formed. Ibid. §605 The smaller the eye..of the dahlia, the better it is considered to be. 1870Hooker Stud. Flora 268 Corolla minute, pale blue with a white eye. 1882Garden 18 Mar. 183/2 Vine eyes from Spain..make better and stronger Vines than those propagated from eyes produced in this country.
11. eye of a crab, a crawfish = crab's-eye.
1661Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 190 The eyes or stones [of the crab] coole, dry, cleanse, discusse, breake the stone. 1753Hanway Trav. I. i. xv. 98 These eyes [of crawfish] are sent into turkey..to be used in medicines.
12. A spot resembling an eye; esp.
a. One of the spots near the end of the tail-feathers of a peacock.
b. One of the three spots at one end of a coconut.
c. A small dark spot in the eggs of fish and insects while hatching.
d. An eye-like spot in the wing of an insect; an ocellus. (Cf. eyelet n. 3 a.)
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 7 A litel stone wiþ yene. 1398― Barth. De P.R. xii. xxxii. (1495) 432 The pecok hath..a taylle full of eyen. 1556Aurelio & Isab. (1608) G ij, Delectabler..then seamethe unto the pecocke his tale chargede with ees. 1601Holland Pliny I. 396 They make a shew of the eyes appearing in Peacockes tailes. 1622Peacham Compl. Gentl. (1661) 163 A mantle wrought with gold and Peacocks eyes. 1658J. Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. i. xiv. 959 She hath four great wings, every one of them having eyes of divers colours. 1720E. Albin Nat. Hist. Eng. Insects Tab. IV, On the 6th of July came Forth a beautiful Butter-fly with Eyes in his Wings. 1736Bailey (folio), Eye of a Bean, a black speck..in the cavity of the corner-teeth of a horse. 1788Cowper On Mrs. Montague's Feather Hangings 4 The Peacock sends his..starry eyes. 1840Penny Cycl. XL. 334/1 In this last [variety] the eyes or circlets of the train [of the peacock] are shadowed out. 1860W. S. Coleman Brit. Butterflies vi. 72 The ‘eyes’ are velvety black. Ibid. 73 Especially to be admired are the double-ringed ‘eyes’. 1863F. Buckland in G. C. Bompas Life vii. (1885) 125 No eyes yet in the [trout's] eggs. 1865Tylor Early Hist. Man. vi. 131 The diviner..will spin a cocoa-nut, and decide a question according to where the eye of the nut looks towards when at rest again. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 595/2 The Peacock Butterfly..conspicuous from the ‘eyes’ on the upper surface of its wings. Ibid. 596/2 Tropæa luna,..with wings of a lemon colour, each with a ‘transparent eye’. 1885H. O. Forbes Nat. Wanderings ii. 27 Having pierced the proper eye with one of its spindle ambulatory legs, it [the Birgus] rotates the nut round it. 1959L. H. Newman Looking at Butterflies 78 The centre of the eye is black and wine-red... The hind-wings also carry large eye-spots.
e. Also applied to the dark spot in hens' eggs.
1895Pearson's Weekly 18 May 712 The yolk of one average-sized hen's egg (from which the ‘eye’ has been removed).
f. Geol. [tr. G. auge eye: cf. augen.] A lens-shaped inclusion in a rock, esp. gneiss, of a different texture from the groundmass of the rock.
1898Summary Progr. Geol. Surv. U.K. 1897 37 Besides the bands and streaks of pegmatite there are many ‘eyes’ of felspar. 1906E. H. Adye Cent. Atlas Microsc. Petrogr. 52 Sporadic crystals of iron pyrite also occur and often take on the so-called ‘eye-structure’. 1920A. Holmes Nomencl. Petrol. 39 Augen-gneiss, a general term for gneissose rocks, independently of their origin, containing ‘eyes’, i.e. phacoidal or lenticular crystals, or aggregates, which simulate the porphyritic crystals of igneous rocks. 1930Peach & Horne Geol. Scotl. iv. 117 The pegmatites show fluxion structure with felspar ‘eyes’. 1959W. W. Moorhouse Study Rocks in Thin Section xxv. 409 Augen gneiss is a sheared granulated gneiss containing porphyroclasts or ‘eyes’ (augen), usually of feldspar.
†13. eye of the world: = hydrophane. Obs. [transl. of mod.L. oculus mundi: cf. the Arab. name ﻋain aššams ‘eye of the sun’.]
[1672Boyle Origin Gems 107 Though the Oculus Mundi be reckoned by Classic Authors among the rare Gems.] 1772Cronstedt's Min. App. 6, I have seen the Eye of the World..in Sir Hans Sloane's Collection.
14. Naut. ‘eyes of her’ (see quot. 1867). Also eyes of the ship, and (simply) eyes.
1840Marryat Poor Jack xxii, Being right in the eyes of her..we could [etc.]. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 284 Eyes of her, the foremost part of the bay, or in the bows of a ship. In olden times, and now in Spanish and Italian boats..an eye is painted on each bow. 1880Times 25 Dec. 7/4 A heavy forecastle in the eyes of her. 1890W. C. Russell Ocean Trag. II. xix. 134 Sleeping as he did, right in the ‘eyes’, he got the very full of the motion. 1908Westm. Gaz. 29 Apr. 4/1 There was also a man in the look-out—at what was called the eyes of the ship.
15.
†a. A fountain or spring; = Heb. ˈﻋayin, Arab. ﻋain.
b. The opening through which the water wells up. Cf. well-eye.
1609Bible (Douay) Deut. xxxiii. 28 The eie of Jacob in the land of corne and wine. 1842Penny Cycl. XXII. 290/2 The place where the river re-appears is called Los Ojos de Guadiana (the eyes of the Guadiana). 1857Livingstone Trav. vi. 111 A hollow, which anciently must have been the eye of a fountain. 1883J. Mackenzie Day-dawn in Dark Places 70 There are three separate wells or ‘eyes’ to this fountain.
16. a. A central mass; the brightest spot or centre (of light).
1864Intell. Observ. V. 371 The net being drawn through a ‘scull’ or shoal of the fish, breaks what is called the eye of the fish. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 284 Eyght, the thickest part of a scule of herrings; when this is scattered by the fishermen, it is termed ‘breaking the ey’. 1870J. Roskell in Eng. Mech. 18 Mar. 647/2 When the button of melted copper..assumes a bright colour, and the centre, which the essayer calls the eye, being dark, the front brick is..drawn aside.
b. A mass of ore left in a mine to be worked when other ore is becoming scarce or inaccessible; hence fig., a ‘plum’, a tit-bit left to the last; (Austral. and N.Z.) the choicest portion of a piece of land; esp. in phr. to pick (or take) the eyes out of (or from).
1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall 561 The ores thus left in various places are often termed the eyes of the mine; and when it may be necessary, in abandoning the mine,..to remove them, it is termed, picking out the eyes of the mine. 1865Ararat Advertiser (Vict.) 13 June, Sections were taken up and the ‘eye picked from the area’. 1865Australasian 23 June, The great prizes—the allotments which were the eyes of the runs. 1891R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. i. 24 The original settlers..had in colonial phraseology ‘picked the eyes out of the country’ in making their selection. 1895G. Chamier South-Sea Siren xi. 165, I took ‘the eyes out of it’, as we say—spotted all the best patches, secured all the waterholes. 1905Westm. Gaz. 9 Mar. 9/2 We do not want anybody to come in and ‘pick the eyes’ out of our districts—to take away the profitable load and leave the unprofitable one. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. iii. 56 The word eye became the epitome of all that was choice in land.
c. The centre of a target; = bull's-eye 7.
a1877in Knight Dict. Mech.
d. The bright red spot observed through the mica- or glass-covered sight hole of a blast furnace.
1884W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron vii. 126 A small slide containing a glass or mica plate, through which the state of the furnace may be observed; the bright spot thus seen is known as the ‘eye of the furnace’. 1888Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. s.v., The eye of a furnace is that spot or area embraced or commanded by the sight holes.
e. The main mass of lean meat in a rasher of bacon, cutlet, etc.
1934in Webster. 1951S. Bull Meat for Table vii. 77 The eye is more tender than the remainder of the bottom round and may be fried. 1959Times 30 Mar. 10/7 The eye of lean on the all important..back rasher was good in both breeds. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder Suppl. 16 Feb. 14 Judges assess the number of marks to award for ‘size and shape of the eye of lean’. 1966Guardian 22 July 10/5–6 The noisettes of lamb are..the small circular eye of meat in the cutlet.
17. Painting. (See quot.)
1859Gullick & Timbs Paint. 201 ‘Eyes’, as the abrupt terminations of the longitudinal division of folds are named.
18. Naut. in the wind's eye: in the direction of the wind. into the wind's eye: to windward. to be a sheet in the wind's eye: fig. to be slightly intoxicated.
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 114 The weather⁓cockis beke is..in the windis eie. 1628Digby Jrnl. (Camden) 50 The 4 galliottes..rowed into the windes eye. 1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 135 The Sound.. is not above a League in the Wind's Eye. 1823Byron Juan x. iv, In the wind's eye I have sail'd. 1834Medwin Angler in Wales II. 145 A better sea-boat..but she could not walk in the wind's eye. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxiv. (1856) 179 To see our pack-bound neighbors..steam ahead dead in the wind's eye. 1883Stevenson Treasure Isl. iv. xx, Maybe you think we were all a sheet in the wind's eye. But I'll tell you I was sober.
19. The centre of revolution. Also in phrase to open its eye.
1760–72tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. (ed. 3) II. viii. iii. 210 The cloud..begins, according to the sailor's phrase, to open its eye, i.e. the cloud breaks, and the part of the horizon where it was formed becomes clear. 1867F. Francis Angling v. 144 The eye of the stream..is always the most favourable spot for fish. By the eye I mean the first good eddy on the inside of any stream after it commences its shoot. 1884Science Jan. 63 The..dreadful calm within the whirl, to which sailors have given the name of ‘the eye of the storm’.
20. A hole or aperture.
a. In a needle: The hole or aperture formed to receive the thread.
c950Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xxiii. 25 Ðerh ðyrl or eᵹnedles. c1000Ags. Gosp. ibid., Eaðelicor mæᵹ se olfend ᵹan þurh..nædle eaᵹe. 1382Wyclif Matt. xix. 24 It is liȝhter, or eysier a camel for to passe thorwȝ a nedelis eiȝe. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 36 A nedle þre cornerid whos iȝe schal be holid on boþe sidis. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. i. 87 So much wit..As will stop the eye of Helens needle. 1712–4Pope Rape Lock ii. 128 Wedg'd whole ages in a bodkin's eye. 1740Cheyne Regimen 313 The Rays of Millions of different Flambeaux may pass..through the Eye of a Needle. 1831–4J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 358 The formation of the gutters and the piercing of the eye.
b. A hole pierced in a tool or implement, for the insertion of some other object.
1554Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 57 For makynge the iee of the clapper [of a bell]..xiiijd. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 155 Put the Eyes of the Hindges over the Pins of the Hooks. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. E j b, When the Miner haums a Pick, there is always Some of the Haum comes through the Eye. 1796Pearson in Phil. Trans. LXXXVI. 445 Its [the axe's] length from eye to edge was seven inches. 1827J. F. Cooper Prairie I. ii. 26 He buried his axe to the eye, in the soft body of a cotton-wood tree. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 284 Eye of an anchor, the hole in the shank wherein the ring is fixed. 1881F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 33 The eye should be made close to the end of the spring which should be rounded.
c. An opening or passage for the introduction or withdrawal of material, as in the ‘runner’ or upper stone of a mill, in a kiln, etc.; also for exit or ingress, as in a fox's earth, a mine, etc.
1686Burnet Trav. v. (1750) 277 He comes out at the Eye of the Mill all in Wafers. 1741Compl. Fam. Piece ii. i. 295 Having found a Fox's Earth, cause all his Holes you can find to be stopt, except the main Hole or Eye that is most beaten. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. G iv, Eye of the Shaft..is the very beginning of the Surface or Grass Clod, sometimes called the Mouth in old Works. 1776Young Tour in Irel. (1780) 301 He burns it in arched kilns, with several eyes. 1812Chron. in Ann. Reg. 1811, 5 When the men employed at the lime-kiln..went to their work, they found a man and a woman lying dead on the edge of its eye. 1842E. J. Lance Cottage Farmer 19, 4½ bushels of flour from the eye of the mill. 1843Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. IV. i. 27 The main drain opens into the ditch at a spot called the ‘eye’. 1843Portlock Geol. 682 In each quadrant of the kiln, there is an opening, called an eye, or fire-hole. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. IV. 605 A damsel on the spindle..agitates the show beneath the hopper and causes the grain to dribble into the eye of the runner.
d. A small hole or hollow in bread or cheese, etc. (Cf. bull's-eye 12). [Cf. Fr. œil in same sense.]
1528Paynell Salerne Regim. E ij, Chese..not to tough.. nor to full of eies. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 483 Cheeses made of their [Sheep's] milk is..full of eyes and holes. 1649W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 143 A Mud, or Sludg..which is very soft, full of Eyes and Wrinckles. 1688R. Holme Armory iii. v. 244 Bad cheese..full of Eyes, not well prest. 1710J. Clarke Rohault's Nat. Phil. (1729) I. 29 Those large Spaces which we call the Eyes of the Bread. 1879G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. s.v., I like bread full of eyes, cheese without any. 1955J. G. Davis Dict. Dairying (ed. 2) 192 The holes or ‘eyes’..are the result of the propionic acid fermentation in the cheese. 1961Which? Sept. 234/2 At times the so-called eyes do not form in Swiss cheese, and the resulting cheese is known as blind cheese.
21. a. A loop of metal or thread in a ‘hook and eye’, esp. that used as a fastening in dresses. Also a metal ring for holding a rod or bolt, or for a rope, etc., to pass through.
1599Minsheu Sp. Dict. (1623), Hevilla..hooks and eies of siluer. 1611Cotgr., Piton..an Eye for a curtaine rod [etc.]. a1658Cleveland Pet. Poem 23 My Eyes are out, and all my Button-moulds Drop. 1697Derham in Phil. Trans. XX. 2 On the Top I left an Eye in the Wire. 1715Desaguliers Fires Impr. 130 Two Iron Eyes for the ends of the Axis to play in. 1763Del Pino Sp. Dict., Máchos y hémbras, hooks and eyes. 1831Brewster Nat. Magic x. (1833) 247 Having..made it [the rope] pass through a fixed iron eye. 1865J. C. Wilcocks Sea Fisherman (1875) 35 A piece of brass wire (having eyes turned at the ends). 1880W. C. Russell Sailor's Sweetheart (1881) II. iv. 201 A couple of scuttlebutts lashed..to eyes in the bulwarks. Mod. The stair-rods are too large for the eyes.
b. A loop of cord or rope; esp. ‘the circular loop of a shroud or stay, where it goes over the mast’ (Adm. Smyth); and in other nautical applications. Also the loop at one end of a bowstring.
1584R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xiii. xxix. 277 Put the eie of the one [cord] into the eie or bowt of the other. a1642Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 345/2 An Eye or two, and a Wall-knot. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Collet d'étai, the eye of a stay placed over a mast-head. 1797Nelson in Nicolas Disp. II. 324 Two pair of main-shrouds cut in the eyes. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 275 Elliot⁓eye..is an eye worked over an iron thimble in the end of a hempen bower-cable, to facilitate its being shackled to the chain for riding in very deep water. Ibid. 283 Flemish eye, particularly applied to the eye of a stay, which is either formed at the making of the rope; or by dividing the yarns into two equal parts, knotting each pair separately and pointing the whole over after parcelling. 1882Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 9 The eyes of the rigging.
22. a. Arch. (see quot. 1888).
1727–51Chambers Cycl., Eye of the Volute. 1888Gwilt Archit. Gloss. 1277 Eye, a general term signifying the centre of any part: thus the eye of a pediment is a circular window in its centre. The eye of a dome is the horizontal aperture on its summit. The eye of a volute is the circle at the centre, from whose circumference the spiral line commences.
b. transf. in Conchology.
1755Gentl. Mag. XXV. 32 Volute, is that twist of spirals which winds round the axis or columella, diminishing by degrees, and ending in a point called the eye. Ibid. 34 The eye [of the shell] is perfectly white, and shaped like a nipple.
†23. Anat. eye of the knee: the knee-cap.
c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 177 To kepe þis ioynture from harm, is ioyned þeron a round boon &..of summen it is clepid þe yȝe of þe knee.
24. Typog.
†a. = the face of a type. [Fr. œil]
b. The enclosed space in the letters d, e, o, etc.
1676Moxon Reg. Trium Ord. Lit. Typo. 22 In the Parallel of 23 draw a line for the Eye, from the inside of e to the outside on the right hand. 1736Bailey (folio), Eye (with Printers) is sometimes used for the thickness of the types or characters used in Printing; or more strictly the graving in relievo on the top or face of a letter. Mod. The eyes of the type are filled up.
c. Advertising. (See quot.)
1924J. McKechnie Rational Book-Keeping viii. 111 In advertising, the line at the top is called the ‘eye’ of an advertisement.
25. artificial eye. Also simply ‘eye’. A glass imitation of the natural eye.
1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. §235, I..determined to think of the dolls' eyes..I satisfied myself that the eyes alone would produce a circulation of a great many thousand pounds. 1884Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v. Eye, Artificial eye, a thin shell or concavo-convex piece of glass or enamel, coloured in imitation of a natural eye, which is introduced beneath the lid when the eye has been enucleated. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 90/2 Artificial eyes are inserted..and the specimen is then placed..to dry.
26. glass eye.
a. = prec.b. also simply ‘eyes’: A pair of spectacles.
c. = bull's eye.
15..Kennedy Agst. Mouth-Thankless v. (in Evergreen), In thy Bag thou beirs thyne Een. 1710Acc. Death Tom Whigg ii. 39 A Glass Eye, the Workmanship..of the Famous Gualtero. 1719D'Urfey Pills III. 18 A pair of Glass Eyes to clap on my Nose. 1785A. M. Bennett Juvenile Indiscretions (1786) I. 62, I must put on my eyes..yes, I see I was mistaken. 1886Pall Mall G. 22 Dec. 5 1 The pale rays of the sun show through the glass eyes on deck. 1890Coues Handbk. Ornithology 66 Glass eyes, of all sizes and colours, may be purchased at a moderate cost.
IV. attrib. and Comb.
27. General relations:
a. attributive, (portions or natural appendages of the eye) as eye-brim, eye-orbit, eye-place, eye-root, eye-slit, eye-socket, eye-stripe; (actions, properties, qualities, sensations of or pertaining to the eye) as eye-colour, eye-craft, eye-encounter, eye-glance, eye-level, eye-love, eye-movement, eye-pleasure, eye-range, eye-reach, eye-search, eye-sparkle, eye-tear, eye-trouble, eye-wrinkle; (surgical appliances for examining or operating on the eye) as eye-cup, eye-douche, eye-forceps, eye-instrument, eye-speculum, eye-syringe, eye-wear; eye-like adj.;
b. objective, as eye-clearer, eye-doctor, eye-guard, eye-irrigator, eye-protector; eye-bedewing, eye-beguiling, eye-bewildering, eye-bewitching, eye-brightening, eye-dazzling, eye-delighting, eye-distracting, eye-filling, eye-glutting, eye-offending, eye-overflowing, eye-pleasing, eye-rejoicing, eye-retorting, eye-scaring, eye-trying, etc., adjs.; also with indirect obj. eye-sweet, adj.; eye-ward adv.; eye-casting, eye-devouring, eye-gouging, eye-watering vbl. ns.c. locative as eye-blurred, eye-bold, eye-starting adjs.; eye-earnestly adv.; instrumental as eye-charmed, eye-checkt, eye-reasoning, eye-seen adjs.; parasynthetic and similative as eye-blue, eye-headed, eye-tipped.
1612J. Taylor (Water P.) To Sir R. Douglas, This kingdom weeps..With..*eye-bedewing verse.
1645Quarles Sol. Recant. i. 4 Heart-corrupting, *eye-beguiling Gold.
1637Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. iv. ix. 46 The..*eye-bewitching farding, of fleshly shew.
1831Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. ix, *Eye-bewildering chiaroscuro.
1839Bailey Festus xix. (1848) 225 Within, the dome Was *eyeblue sapphire.
1592Warner Alb. Eng. vii. xxxvii. 168 She *eie-blur'd, and adiudged Praies the dastard'st.
1606Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. ii. Magnificence 424 Th' *eye-bold Eagle never fears the flash..of Lightning.
1641Milton Ch. Govt. Wks. 1738 I. 58 Some *eye-brightning Electuary of Knowledge and Foresight.
1729T. Cooke Tales, Proposals, &c. 185 The Caitiff trembles, and his *Eyebrims flow.
1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 88 By suche..good *eye castyng: thei shall alwaies bee able..to speake what thai ought.
1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, ccclxii, Amazement but Enthralls *Eye-Charm'd Spectators.
1654Gayton Pleas. Notes ii. iv. 47 He forgot his Table, till *eye-checkt to his duty.
1883R. Turner in Gd. Words Dec. 790/2 The pretty little Eyebright..had at one time a great reputation as an *eye-clearer.
1889F. Galton Nat. Inheritance viii. 138 Stature and *Eye-colour..are more contrasted in hereditary behaviour than perhaps any other common qualities. 1922R. C. Punnett Mendelism (ed. 6) 204 It was natural that eye-colour should be early selected as a subject of investigation. 1925C. Fox Educat. Psychol. 26 The physical characters were such things as stature, length of arm, cephalic index, eye-colour, etc.
1639Horn & Robotham Gate Lang. Unl. lxxvi. heading, Of opticks (*eye-craft) and painting.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Eye-cup, a cup for washing the eye⁓ball.
1601Chester Love's Mart. Cantoes xlv. (1878) 147 *Eye-dazling mistries.
1757Dyer Fleece ii. 574 The tribe of salts..*eyedelighting hues Produce. 1887J. J. Hissey Holiday on Road 87 Windmills..always charming features in the prospect, life-giving and eye-delighting.
1873Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap 1473 Monsieur Léonce Miranda ate her up With *eye-devouring.
1885E. D. Hale in Harper's Mag. Mar. 558/2 They are as good as any *eye-doctor.
1884Syd. Soc. Lex., *Eye douche, an instrument by means of which a stream of water or medicated fluid can be applied to the surface of the eye.
1818Keats Endymion i. 360 Sweeping, *eye-earnestly, through almond vales.
1833Lamb Elia Ser. ii. i. (1865) 241 A momentary *eye-encounter with those stern bright visages.
1900Daily News 11 June 10/3 Mr. Panmure Gordon's *eye-filling bay gelding Forrester was third. 1961Guardian 16 Nov. 8/3 ‘Ben Hur’ is both eye-filling and a serious work.
1590Spenser F.Q. ii. iv. 37 His countenaunce..scornefull *ey-glaunce at him shot. 1827Keble Chr. Y. Visit. Sick, Your keen eye glances are too bright.
1590Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 9 To them that covet such *eye⁓glutting gaine Proffer thy giftes.
1950J. Dempsey Championship Fighting v. 20 There's no one to prevent low blows, butting, kicking, *eye-gouging, biting and strangling.
1884Health Exhib. Catal. 128/1 Gauze Wire *Eye-Guards.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Eye-headed Bolt, a form of bolt having an eye at the head⁓end.
1884Syd. Soc. Lex., *Eye-irrigator, a coil of narrow lead tubing..readily bent to fit the orbit and the surface of the lids..through which a constant current of warm or cold fluid is maintained.
1611Cotgr., Miraillet, a Thorne⁓backe which hath on either of her sides..a great *eye-like spot. 1879Lubbock Sci. Lect. ii. 51 Many of the hawk⁓moth caterpillars have eye-like spots.
1863Ouida Held in Bondage (1870) 92 And *eye-love expires.
1924R. M. Ogden tr. Koffka's Growth of Mind iii. 71 Do *eye-movements..belong among the inherited reflexes, or are they acquired?
1806J. Grahame Birds of Scot. 77 A melancholy, *eye-o'erflowing look.
1595Shakes. John iii. i. 47 Patch'd with foule Moles, and *eye⁓offending markes.
1858H. Miller Rambl. Geol. ii. xii. 434 The snout of the Dipterus was less round; it bore no marks of the *eye-orbits.
1869Blackmore Lorna D. ii. (ed. 12) 10 A light came through my *eye-places.
1580Sidney Arcadia (1622) 6 Medowes, enamelled with all sorts of *eie-pleasing flowers. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iv. 446 His spirit hath garnished..the Heavens, i.e. decked them with those eye-pleasing gloriose lights.
1617Markham Caval. i. 53 If you preserue your Mare for beautie, and *eye-pleasure.
1884Syd. Soc. Lex., *Eye-protectors.
1880R. Broughton Sec. Th. i. xii, The very instant he is out of *eye-range.
1622–62Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1682) 12 They had so long together lain in *eye-reach.
1839Bailey Festus xx. (1848) 234 *Eye-reasoning man.
1645Quarles Sol. Recant. v. 23 Full heaps of *eye-rejoicing gold.
1818L. Hunt Foliage, Orig. Poems 28 As on the *eye-retorting dolphin's back That let Arion ride him.
1791Cowper Odyss. ix. 458 All his *eye-roots crackled in the flames.
1657Reeve God's Plea for Nineveh 153 All our lip reverence, *eye-search, feet-lackyng, ear⁓bibbing..scarce bring forth a conspicuous Penitent.
1871Palgrave Lyr. Poems 116 The keen torrents of *eye⁓searing light.
1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xlii. (1856) 382 *Eye-seen growth.
1922Joyce Ulysses 55 He watched the dark *eyeslits narrowing with greed.
1841–44Emerson Ess., Hist. Wks. (Bohn) I. 10 Whose *eye-sockets are so formed that it would be impossible for such eyes to squint. 1854Owen Skel. & Teeth (1855) 13 The eye-sockets..are..large, and usually with a free and wide intercommunication in the skeleton.
1870Emerson Soc. & Solit., Bks. Wks. (Bohn) III. 90 Laughter and blushes and *eye-sparkles of men and women.
1794Coleridge Relig. Musings iv, Fear, the wild-visaged, pale, *eye-starting wretch.
1933Brit. Birds XXVII. 134 The cock bird had the head and ear coverts slate blue, and the *eye-stripe is described..as pale and less conspicuous than might have been expected. 1938Ibid. XXXI. 380 It had a whitish eyestripe and the legs were dark grey.
1598J. Dickenson Greene in Conc. (1878) 124 Which spoyle their stommacks with vnsauory myxtures, thereby to seeme *eye-sweete. 1645Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845) 187 Not only God, but all his instruments..must be eye-sweet to us. 1863Manch. Exam. 22 May, The effect of this arrangement is peculiarly ‘eye-sweet’.
1616W. Forde Serm. 42 The hearts griefe and the *eie-teares must goe together.
1791E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. 142 The Cherub train..with wonder touch the sliding snail, Admire his *eye-tip'd horns.
1896Westm. Gaz. 24 Sept. 1/3 Mr. Gladstone's *eye-trouble. a1963J. Lusby in B. James Austral. Short Stories (1963) 233 Affecting eye-trouble, Rafe jumped in.
1887Sat. Rev. 14 May 703/1 Colours worked on highly glazed *eye-trying paper.
1891Daily News 3 Nov. 5/3 Placidly sharp fat face, puckered *eyeward (as if all gravitating towards the eyes).
1840Hood Up the Rhine 61 This gaping, and *eye-watering.
1926Glasgow Herald 13 Apr. 11/2 Cameras, telescopes,..*eyewear, and lenses. 1936R. Campbell Mithraic Emblems 161 You buy dark specs to stare at castles, But I collect such eye-wear free.
1851H. Melville Whale I. xvi. 113 Such *eye-wrinkles are very effectual in a scowl.
28. Special comb.: eye appeal orig. U.S., visual appeal or attractiveness; † eye-apple, the apple of the eye; eye-area (see quot.); eye-baby, the image of the spectator seen in another's eye; eye bank orig. U.S., a reserve store of human corneas kept for treatment of the blind; eye-bar, a steel or iron bar having an eye or hole at either end, used in bridges; eye-bath, a cup-shaped vessel designed to fit the orbit of the eye, used to apply a lotion to the eye; eye-black, black eye-shadow; mascara; eye-blight, something that blights or dims the eye; eye-blink, the twinkling of an eye (cf. blink n.2 3); eye-blinking vbl. n. (cf. blink v. 6), a half-closing of the eye (to what is indecorous); eye-bone, the bony circle round the eye, the orbit; † eye-brine, tears; eye-bugging a. (U.S.), having or characterized by bulging eyes (cf. bug v.2); † eye-cast, an act of casting the eye, a glance or look; eye-catcher, a person or object that draws the eye; so eye-catching a., attractive to the eye; striking; prominent; eye-clip v. trans. N.Z. (see quot. 1933); so eye-clipping vbl. n.; eye contact, the state or practice of meeting the gaze of a person or animal; an instance of this; eye-copy, a copy made by the hand, with the aid of the eye only; eye-dawn, the dawn or first appearance (of a feeling) in the eye; eye-dialect, unusual spelling intended to represent dialectal or colloquial idiosyncrasies of speech (see quots.); eye dog N.Z. (see quot. 1951); † eye-dolp = eye-socket; eye-dot = eye-speck; eye-dotter, a small brush used in graining wood in imitation of bird's-eye maple; eye-drop, (a) a tear; (b) pl., a liquid administered to the eye in drops; eye-dropper, a device for administering eye-drops; eye-end, that end of a telescope to which the eye is applied; † eye-flap = blinker 2 b; eye-fly, a minute fly which in summer-time in the East is troublesome to the eyes of men and beasts; † eye-form (see quot.); eye-ground, the fundus or back of the eye; eye-handle (of a spade, etc.), a handle having an eye or hole; † eye-hope, hope arising from the appearance of a thing; † eye-lamp, lamp or light of the eye; eye-lens, the lens nearest the eye in an optical instrument; eye-level, the level of the eyes; also attrib.; eye-light, (a) the light of the eye, (b) a light (candle or lamp) for the eye; eye-limpet (see quot.); eye-line, (a) the field or range of vision, (b) in pl. the lines above and below the eye of a bird; eye-liner, eyeliner, a cosmetic applied in a line around the eye; a brush or pencil for applying this; also attrib.; hence eye-lining vbl. n.; eye-loop = eye-hole, a loop-hole; eye lotion, (a) lotion for the eyes; (b) slang (see quot. 1943); eye-memory (see quot.); eye-minded a. Psychol., tending to a frequent use of visual imagery; having a mental constitution chiefly or exclusively visual, so that thoughts and memories take the form of visual images; thinking in terms of the printed or written word rather than of the spoken word; so eye-mindedness, the condition of being eye-minded; eye muscle, (a) a muscle that moves the eye or one of its components; (b) a muscle, the longissimus thoracis, which runs alongside the spine and in an animal gives rise to an eye in a piece of meat (eye n.1 16 e); eye-observation, an observation taken by the eye alone; eye and ear-observation (see quot.); eye-opener, (a) U.S., a draught of strong liquor, esp. one taken in the morning; (b) something that throws sudden light on a subject or that makes clear what was dark and ambiguous; (c) something which causes keen surprise; (d) an attractive woman; (e) a person who reveals facts or clarifies a situation to others; eye-parley, communication by interchange of looks; † eye-pearl, a facet in a compound eye; eye-pedicel, eye-peduncle, Zool. a pedicel or peduncle supporting an eye; eye-peeper = eye-lid; eye-pencil, a pencil (pencil n. 2 c) for drawing cosmetic lines around the eyes; eye-plate, (a) a chitinous sclerite in which the eyes of Acarina are placed; (b) (see quot. 1948); eye-point = eye-spot; eye-probe (see quot.); eye-purple (see quot.); eye-rhyme, -rime (see quot. 1936); eye-rim (see quot.); eye-ring, a circular space within which the eye of the user of an optical instrument must be placed in order to obtain the full field of view; eye-scope = eye-shot; eye-seed, in pl. seeds which, when blown into the eye, are said to remove foreign substances; † eye (ȝen)-seke [see seke], eyesickness; yearning; † eye-set a., set down by eye-witnesses, trustworthy; eye-shade, a shade for the eyes, (a) one worn or used as a protection from the light; (b) a hood attached to a microscope to prevent the entrance of lateral rays to the eye; (c) = eye-shadow; eye-shadow Cosmetics, colouring applied to the eyelids or around the eyes; hence eye-shadowed adj.; † eye-sick a., affected by things one sees; eye-siren (see quot.); eye-sketch = eye-draught; eye-sorrow, (a) suffering through the eye; (b) = eye-sore; eye-speck, an eye consisting of a single speck, a rudimentary eye; eye-stalk, the stalk or peduncle supporting the eye; = eye-penduncle; eye-star (see quot.); eye stitch (see quots.); eye-stone, (a) a stone resembling an eye; (b) (see quot. 1828); eye-strain, weariness or strained condition of the eyes resulting from excessive or improper use of the eyes, or uncorrected defects of vision; so eye-straining n. and adj.; † eye-streams, tears; eye-structure (see quot.); eye-sucker (see quot.); eye-sweep, a survey with the eye; eye-taking a., that attracts attention; eye-trap, something to catch or deceive the eye, a specious appearance; eye-trick, a trick of the eye, a covert glance; eye-tube, the tube of the eye-piece in a telescope; eye-veil, a veil which reaches down as far as the eyes; † eye-vein, a branch-vein; eye-verdict, the evidence of the eyes; eye-wages, such wages as eye-service deserves; eye-waiter, one who waits for a look from his master as indicative of his will; = eye-servant; eye-ward, a ward for eye patients in a hospital; eye-wattle, a wattle or excrescence near the eye of a bird; eye-web, membrane covering the eye (e.g. of a mole); eye-wig v. trans. (N.Z.) = eye-clip vb.; eye-wire, wire forming the metal frames of spectacles; eye-wise a., wise in appearance; eye-worker, one whose work needs special use of the eyes; † eye-worm, a worm in the eye, in quot. fig.; eye-worship, adoration performed by the eye; eye-wright, one who cures eyes. Also eye-ball n., -beam, -bite, etc.
1926National Provisioner 19 June 25 Through improved wraps, a manufacturer may give his product ‘*eye appeal’. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 63/1 Color tempted him to accept the appetizing eye appeal of the food ads. 1960Guardian 29 Nov. 5/1 Prewar cars lacked the eye appeal of modern cars.
1658A. Fox tr. Wurtz' Surg. ii. ix. 81 If a party hath received a Wound in the *Eye Apple..then..[etc.]
1895A. C. Haddon Evol. Art 36 The six rays are but a symmetrical coalescence of two pairs of *eye-areas. Note, I have adopted the term ‘eye-area’ to denote the eye device which includes the eye, the eye-lashes, and often the cheek-fold of that side.
1890Coues Field & Gen. Ornith. ii. iv. 271 Our own reflection, diminished to the size of the *‘eye-baby’.
1944Amer. N. & Q. IV. 24/2 *Eye Bank: founded at the New York Hospital..May 8; for collecting and preserving ‘healthy human corneas’. 1959Eye bank [see bank n.3 7 f].
1890Daily News 16 Apr. 6/6 Such important pieces as the *eye-bars of suspension bridges.
1830J. & S. Maw's Catal., *Eye Baths. 1935,1943Eye bath [see eye lotion below].
1927Sunday Express 20 Mar. 1 The police found little besides some lip⁓stick and *eyeblack. 1963I. Fleming On H.M. Secret Service xvi. 273 Now you've ruined my eye-black.
1800Coleridge Piccolom. v. iii, Therefore are they *eye-blights, Thorns in your foot-path.
1867Dixon New Amer. I. xii. 143 And in an *eye-blink, Carter fell to the ground dead.
1891Pall Mall G. 29 Oct. 2/1 It is a pity that in these days of sham prudery and *eye-blinking such conversations cannot be reproduced.
1793Holcroft Lavater's Physiog. vii. 47 *Eyebones with defined..firm arches.
1606Davies Sir T. Overbury Wks. (Grosart) 13 The Judge..Powders his words in *Eye-brine.
1672J. Howard Mad Couple ii. in Hazl. Dodsley XV. 346 There's two of them that make their love together, By languishing *eye-casts. 1927E. Hemingway Men without Women (1928) 102 On the walls of the houses were stencilled *eye-bugging portraits of Mussolini. 1937L. C. Douglas Forgive our Trespasses xi. 218 With many long, cheek-distending, eye-bugging exhalations.
1923K. G. Karsten Charts & Graphs 689 The best kind of *eye-catcher for calling attention to numerical data. 1946Vogue Aug. 31 Let his wife..try..to emulate the appearance of those eye-catchers, and she's pretty soon put in her place. 1969B. Turner Circle of Squares viii. 55 She was wearing lacy black stockings, the sort of eye-catchers that used to be considered very sexy.
1933Aeroplane 6 Sept. 418/2 Another worth-while dodge is the provision of labels of a most *eye-catching design. 1952D. Dodge To catch Thief (1953) ii. 40 She might be really eye-catching if she would make an effort to be.
1930L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 1st Ser. vi. 128 Merino sheep..were not handled so often for *eye-clipping and so on. 1933― in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 14 Oct. 15/7 Eye-clip, to cut the wool away from round a sheep's eyes. If this is not done, the wool, especially on merinos, is apt to grow over the eyes and make the sheep wool-blind. Some people speak of eye-clipping as Winking. 1953B. Stronach Musterer on Molesworth viii. 54 Our next job was to eye clip the lambs, for many of them were wool-blind.
1965Argyle & Dean in Sociometry XXVIII. 289 Without *eye-contact.., people do not feel they are fully in communication. 1977C. McFadden Serial (1978) xx. 46/2 She turned around to make eye contact. 1984W. Boyd Stars & Bars i. iv. 45 The girl came to recognise him, and they would make a long and direct eye-contact throughout their transaction.
1883I. Taylor Alphabet iv. §2 I. 207 An early *eye-copy of a portion of the inscription.
1820Keats Ode to Psyche 20 Tender *eye-dawn of aurorean love.
1925G. P. Krapp Eng. Lang. in Amer. I. iv. 228 The impression of popular speech..is often assisted by what may be termed ‘*eye dialect’, in which the convention violated is one of the eye, not of the ear. Thus a dialect writer often spells a word like front as frunt, or face as fase, or picture as pictsher, not because he intends to indicate here a genuine difference of pronunciation, but the spelling is merely a friendly nudge to the reader. 1965Amer. Speech XL. 230 Which of the most fastidious elocutionists could object to the vocalized result of enuff, probably the oftenest repeated of Capp's eye-dialect usages?
1951L. G. D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs 376 *Eye dog, dog that commands sheep by his eye. 1963R. Casey As Short Spring 196 What's more, he keeps all eye dogs—hardly ever bark in their lives. They could work sheep with barely a sound on a clear night.
1513Douglas æneis iii. x. 15 Off his *E dolp thæ flowand blude and attir He wische away.
1878M'Kendrick in Encycl. Brit. VIII. 816/1 Eye-specks or *eye-dots met with in Medusæ, Annelidæ, etc.
1873Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 422 Some grainers use small brushes called maple *eye-dotters..for forming the eyes.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 88 That Tyranny..Would..haue wash'd his Knife With gentle *eye-drops. 1938–9Army & Navy Stores Catal. 393/2 Eye Drop Bottle... Eye Drop Tubes. 1961Harper's Bazaar May 95 Improve the whites [of eyes] with..French eye drops, deep blue in colour.
1938J. Steinbeck Long Valley 75 He took an *eyedropper from a drawer. 1962J. Braine Life at Top ii. 33, I..poured her out her usual medicinal dose of brandy... Sometimes I made jokes about using an eye-dropper next time.
1790Roy in Phil. Trans. LXXX. 154 This piece of mechanism in the *eye-end of the telescope. 1878Lockyer Stargazing 311 The eye-end changes its position rapidly.
1611Cotgr. s.v. Oeilleres, A bridle with *eye-flaps for a fore-horse. 1775Ash, Eye-flap.
1815Kirby & Spence Ent. I. App. 8 A very minute black fly..which, because it flies in swarms into the eyes..is called the *eye-fly. 1951E. A. Mittelholzer Shadows move among Them i. ix. 68 A tickling on his eye-lashes..it was an eye-fly.
1551Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. Def. B ij b, A figure moche like to a tunne fourme, saue that it is sharp couered [1574 cornered] at both the endes..and that figure is named an *yey [ 1574eye] fourme.
1900Jrnl. Exper. Med. 25 Oct. 196 The *eye grounds..were normal. 1910Practitioner July 97 Mental and moral deterioration in the one.., normal eye-grounds and active pupils in the other.
1880Catal. Tool Wks. Sheffield 24 The spades above No. 4 have *Eye Handles.
1580Sidney Arcadia (1622) 351 *Eye-hopes deceitfull proue.
1600J. Lane Tom Tel-troth 110 Daigne with your *eye-lamps to behold this booke.
1871Lockyer Elem. Astron. §468 We get an inverted image at..the focus of the *eye-lens. 1879Newcomb & Holden Astron. 63 The eye-lens E receives the pencil of rays, and deviates it to the observer's eye.
1909Westm. Gaz. 16 Oct. 14/2 The *eye-level is the true position for the hand-camera. 1926Army & Navy Stores Catal. 291/2 The ‘New-World’ eye-level cooker. 1932E. Bowen To North xxiv. 256 Then she discovered them just at eye-level, ranged in a row. 1951Good Housek. Home Encycl. 75/2 ‘Eye-level’ cookers.., electric cookers in which the oven is raised to eye-level and the..grill chamber situated alongside. 1956Ibid. 76/1 Eye-level grills. 1958M. L. Hall Newnes Complete Amat. Photogr. 61 Slower in action than an eye-level camera. Ibid., Many cameras do include eye-level viewfinding arrangements. 1961Radio Times 18 May 6/1 This up-to-the-minute Jackson ‘extra’ fits all the Highline eye-level grills.
1824J. Bowring Batavian Anthol. 59 The brightest of stars is but twilight Compared with that beautiful *eye-light. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 378 Eyelight comes out to mingle with the daylight that comes in.
1891Farmer Slang, *Eye-limpet an artificial eye.
1839Bailey Festus (1854) 532 One unlimited *eye-line of pure space. 1885Pall Mall G. 7 Nov. 4/1 A flycatcher sits lengthwise upon a branch. How beautiful..its white eye-lines and barred forehead.
1960Harper's Bazaar July 67/1 Slim *eye-liner brush for detailed shading. Ibid., A liquid eyeliner complete with brush. Ibid., A soft eye⁓liner pencil. 1968New Scientist 24 Oct. 178/2 On being sent out by his daughter to buy her a 5s 5d tube of eye⁓liner, he was amazed at the minute quantity she got for that sum.
1960Sunday Express 6 Nov. 14/4 Gold *eye⁓lining pencils.
1866Cornh. Mag. Nov. 543 On its walls [may still be traced] the *eye-loops for arrows.
1886in L. de Vries Vict. Advertisements (1968) 34/2 Away with eye-glasses and *eye lotions. 1935R. Macaulay Personal Pleasures 154 But you have..left behind you..a toothbrush, and a bottle of eye lotion with eye bath. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 30 Eye lotion, wines (only enough of them to provide an eye bath).
1880Pall Mall G. 20 Mar. 3/2 Closely akin to quickness of perception is *eye-memory, or ‘the impressing by will on memory things which we have seen’.
1888J. Jastrow in Pop. Sci. Monthly XXXIII. 597 (title) *Eye-mindedness and ear-mindedness. Ibid. 603 An eye-minded person should read, should reduce everything to visual terms. 1897Psychol. Rev. (Monogr. Suppl.) II i. 18 Some persons are ear-minded—they think most readily in auditory (‘phonographic’) images; others are eye-minded, thinking in visual (‘photographic’) images. Ibid. 21 Eye-mindedness is of course quite different from quickness of visual perception. 1925Eye-minded [see ear-minded a.].
1881Index Med. III. 183/2 (title) Spasm of the intra-ocular *eye muscles. 1924R. M. Ogden tr. Koffka's Growth of Mind iii. 77 The innervations which the eye-muscles undergo in movements of fixation are determined.. by the pre-existing position of the eyes. 1959Times 30 Mar. 10/6 Points for quality..are given for..size and shape of the eye muscle in the back [of a pig].
1879Newcomb & Holden Astron. 79 *Eye-and-ear observation..is..the part which both the eye and the ear play in the appreciation of intervals of time. The ear catches the beat of the clock, the eye fixes the star.
1889Daily News 3 Jan. 5/3 The camera..gives more reliable results than mere *eye observations.
1818H. B. Fearon Sk. Amer. 252 At table there is neither conversation nor yet drinking; the latter is effected by individuals taking their solitary ‘*eye openers’, ‘toddy’, and ‘phlegm dispersers’. 1846D. Corcoran Pickings 75 A ‘pig and whistle’ is the only reg'lar eye opener. 1863Rio Abajo Press (Albuquerque, N.M.) 3 Feb. 2 Quite a catalogue of similar examples of injustice and meanness..might be made..but we merely allude to them as an ‘eye-opener’ to the public. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. iv. xvi. (C.D. ed.) 513 That transatlantic dram which is poetically named an eye-opener. 1870Mark Twain Innoc. Abr. xv. 110 The uneducated foreigner could not even furnish..an Eye-Opener. 1879N. & Q. 15 Feb. 140 His lecture must have been a lively..eye-opener for the somnolence of a cathedral town. 1884E. T. Hooker in Amer. Missionary (N.Y.) April, The ability manifested in the discussion..would have been an eye-opener to Dr. Tucker. 1919F. Hurst Humoresque 72 He 'ain't seen her since a child, and all of a sudden he comes West and finds in front of him an eye-opener. 1928Manch. Guardian Weekly 31 Aug. 174/4 He felt his mission to be that of an agitator, of an eye-opener, of a merciless yet undogmatic critic. 1948E. N. Dick Dixie Frontier 189 Ministers regularly took their morning eye-opener and their nightcap in the evening.
1651Charleton Eph. & Cimm. Matrons ii. (1668) 33 The *Eye-parly between Leander and Hero.
1665R. Hooke Micrographia 179 There may be by each of these *eye-pearls, a representation to the Animal..as in a man's eye there is a Picture or sensation in the Retina.
1854Woodward Mollusca (1856) 24 The *eye-pedicels of the snail.
1852Dana Crust. i. 440 The acicle of the outer antennæ is..seldom shorter than the *eye-peduncle.
1786F. Burney Diary 25 Dec., When my poor *eye-peepers are not quite closed, I look to the music-books.
1902Westm. Gaz. 20 Nov. 6/3 Sticks of grease⁓paint, *eye-pencils, lip salve.
1903Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. Nov. 505 The comparative structure of the hard chitinous parts of the body, especially of the *eye-plates, mouth⁓organs, and palps. 1923Man. Seamanship II. iv. 93 On its [sc. the planing shoe's] upper surface are three eye⁓plates, to which are shackled the three legs of a chain sling. 1932Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Jan. 30/1 Thrice Bill hung head-downwards over the eyeplate below the shackles of the mizzen rigging. 1948R. de Kerchove Internat. Maritime Dict. 248/2 Eye plate, a plate or casting with an eye normal to its surface and formed solid with the plate.
1856–8W. Clark Van der Hoeven's Zool. I. 51 Animals without *eye-point and tail. 1868Browning Ring & Bk. i. 633 The scrutinizing eye-point of some star.
1860Mayne Exp. Lex., *Eye-probe, Surg., name for a probe having an eye or small hole at one end.
1886Daily News 24 Sept. 5/1 A substance termed the visual purple of the eye. Now, this *eye-purple is eminently sensitive to the action of light.
1871Ellis E.E. Pronunc. III. viii. 864/2 The spelling seems to have been changed to make an *eye⁓rhyme. 1873–4G. M. Hopkins Note-bks. (1937) 246 Unlawful rhymes—We may notice (i) mere eye-rhymes; [etc.]. 1909O. Jespersen Mod. Eng. Gram. i. 5 But eye⁓rimes are of comparatively recent growth, many of them owing their origin to words of formerly identical or similar sound having now become differentiated, thus war and far. 1913Ogilvie & Albert Pract. Course Secondary Eng. ii. 186 Some poets, particularly Spenser in his Faerie Queene, resort to what is called eye-rhyme, that is, rhyme between words of similar spelling, though of different sound. 1936Treble & Vallins A.B.C. of Eng. Usage 157 Especially to be noted are ‘eye rhymes’, i.e. those which exist only to the eye and not the ear, like quay—day.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Eye-rim, a circular single eye-glass, adapted to be held to its place by the contraction of the orbital muscles.
1902Mann & Millikan tr. Drude's Theory of Optics 77 The exit-pupil is often called the *eye-ring, and its centre is called the position of the eye.
1891R. Kipling City Dreadf. Nt. iv. 24 They can declare truthfully the name of every ship within *eye-scope.
1886Britten & Holland Plant-n. 172 *Eye-seeds..Probably Salvia Verbenaca.
c1485Digby Myst., Mary Magd. 1577, I am so wexyd with *ȝen sueke, Þat [etc.].
1632Lithgow Trav. x. 507 So may some Stoicall Reader mis-conster..this *eye-set History.
1845J. T. Smith Bk. for Rainy Day 11 The ladies this year [sc. 1768] wore half a flat hat as an *eye-shade. 1866K. R. C. in N. & Q. 10 Mar. 196 An eye-shade of card-board..is more useful than ornamental. 1937L. MacNeice in Auden & MacNeice Lett. from Iceland x. 133 Compacts, lipstick, eyeshade, and coiffures.
1930H. Rubinstein Art of Feminine Beauty iv. 67 The most successful way of lending depth and mystery to the eyes is with the *eye shadow. 1950J. Emerald Photographic Make-Up i. 27 Eye⁓shadow is applied to the eyelids with a flat-top sable brush. 1959Daily Sketch 7 Jan. 9 False eyelashes..give the effect of eye-shadowed lids.
1650Bp. Hall Balm Gil. 299, I have long since left to be *eyesick.
1594J. Dickenson Arisbas (1878) 62 That *eye-Syren, alluring not with the sound, but at the sight.
1774M. Mackenzie Maritime Surv. 84 He may..sound the Depths of the Water, and mark them on an *Eye-sketch of the Coast. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §317 Of this column, I made an eye-sketch at the time.
1828Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 132 The law of Destiny which dooms them to such unspeakable ‘*eye⁓sorrow’. 1837― Fr. Rev. ii. vi. vi, So many Courtiers..are an eyesorrow to the National Guards.
1839Todd Cycl. Anat. II. 130/2 The *eye-specks are situated a little way behind the head. 1880Bastian Brain iii. 61 The simple ‘eye-specks’ of some of the lower Worms.
1854Woodward Mollusca (1856) 25 The snail affords a remarkable, though familiar instance, when it draws in its *eye⁓stalks. 1880Huxley Crayfish i. 24 At the ends of the eye⁓stalks are the organs of vision.
1834Southey Doctor Pref. I. 41 So many featherlets leading up to..the gem or *eye-star, for which the whole was formed.
1932D. C. Minter Mod. Needlecraft 53/1 *Eye stitch..is formed by sixteen stitches going into a single hole..but spread into a square on the outside edge. Ibid. 53/2 Algerian eye stitch..is worked over a square having four threads on each side. 1934M. Thomas Dict. Embroidery Stitches 84 Eye stitch, the stitch consists of 16 Satin Stitches all taken into the same central hole but with their outer ends arranged over a square of eight threads, with two threads between each stitch.
1677Plot Oxfordsh. 129 An Ophthalmites, or some sort of *Eye stone. 1828S. F. Gray Suppl. to Pharmacopœia 143 Guernsey eye⁓stone being put into the inner corner of the eye works its way out at the outward corner and brings out any strange substance with it. 1865Emanuel Diamonds, etc. 163 These stones [onyx] are also termed by jewellers ‘eye-stones’.
1874Med. & Surg. Reporter (Philad.) XXXI. 67 (heading) Headaches..from *eye strain. 1909Practitioner Dec. 779 Of all the causes of eyestrain the most frequent is the presence of an error of refraction. 1949H. C. Weston Sight, Light & Efficiency iii. 57 The eye⁓strain-risk associated with occupations.
1871English Mechanic 380/3 *Eye-straining. 1923Kipling Land & Sea Tales 185 Cold, nose-running, eye-straining work.
1594Southwell M. Magd. Fun. Teares 85 Would our eyes be so dry, if such *eie-streams were behovefull?
1888F. H. Hatch Gloss. Terms for Rocks 11 *Eye-structure. In this structure..the foliated and secondary minerals are arranged in layers round the larger original constituents, producing lenticular forms which often bear a striking resemblance to eyes.
1744Baker in Phil. Trans. XLIII. 35, I shall..distinguish it by the Name of *Eye-Sucker, as that Name conveys an Idea of the Manner how it lives. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Eye-sucker, a small sea insect, which is sometimes found fixed by the snout to the Eyes of sprats.
1865E. Burritt Walk to Land's End 440 When you have taken your first *eye-sweep, you cannot say which goddess is the fairest.
1868G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers 18 July (1959) 177 An ash rose with *eye-taking sky-clusters. 1960Harper's Bazaar July 38 She likes..eye-taking colours.
1785A. M. Bennett Juvenile Indiscr. (1786) I. 4 The *eye-trap of a good house. 1825Blackw. Mag. XVIII. 152 A got-up thing—a mere eye⁓trap.
1603Florio Montaigne iii. v. (1632) 487 Galba..perceiving him and his wife beginne to bandy *eye-trickes and signes.
1779Dollond in Phil. Trans. LXIX. 332 The *eye-tube which contains the wires of the telescope. 1837Goring & Pritchard Microgr. 6 The elongation or contraction of the length of the body, by means of the eye-tube.
1928Daily Express 4 June 5/3 The *eye-veil fashion..is good for the races.
1545T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 43 They sende into each of the caules innumerable small *eye veynes.
1657S. W. Schism Dispach't 198 Dr. H. would persuade us to beleeve against our *eye-verdict.
1620Sanderson Serm. I. 150 They do Him but eye-service, and He giveth them but *eye-wages.
a1734North Lives II. 249 Most of them were but *eye-waiters.
1879St. George's Hosp. Rep. IX. 465 The average stay of a patient in the *eye-wards..was 25·84 days.
1868Darwin Anim. & Pl. I. vi. 188 A long-beaked carrier, having large *eye-wattles.
1883W. S. Dugdale tr. Dante's Purgatorio xvii. 188 Through which thou couldst see no better than a mole does through his *eyeweb.
1950N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Apr. 387/3 Each ewe..is *eye-wigged if necessary.
1881Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 96 *Eye Wire Maker. 1962L. S. Sasieni Optical Dispensing i. 25 This pattern is..produced..by stamping or rolling the eye-wire through dies.
1876Lowell Poet. Wks. (1879) 472 When those *eye-wise..shall be lost In the great light.
1898G. M. Gould Biogr. Clinics (1905) III. 500 A seamstress or..any hard-pushed *eye-worker.
1591Lyly Endym. iii. iv. 45 Love is but an *eye worme, which onely tickleth the head with hopes.
a1674Milton Prose Wks. (Jod.), *Eye-worship.
1656Heylin Surv. France 28 My hostess..perswaded me to this holy *eye-wright.
Add:[28.] eyephone, (a) pl., an audio headset which provides the wearer with synchronized visual signals and images as well as sound (a proprietary name, with capital initial, in the U.S.); (b) (freq. as EyePhone) a headset used in virtual reality, providing audio and visual feedback about a virtual environment.
1981Washington Post 19 July g3/2 *Eyephones, which effectively shut out outside light sources, consist of interchangeable color chip slides and tiny flashing lights that are activated by plugging into a stereo sound source. 1989Time 1 May 66/1 VPL, which..has developed its own EyePhones goggles and full-body DataSuit. 1993Guardian 14 June (Educ. Suppl.) 14/3 The key to immersive VR is the use of a headset, or ‘eyephone’, which projects a small image of the virtual world on to each eye.
▸ to have eyes in the back of one's head and variants: (in hypothetical, conditional, or negative contexts) to be able to see behind, or all around oneself; (hence) to be extremely observant, alert, or perceptive.
1836N. P. Willis Inklings of Adventure II. iii. 123 Though I had no eyes in the back of my straw hat, I conceived very well the state in which a compost of soft gingerbread, tears, and perspiration, would soon leave the two unscrupulous hands behind me. 1850G. P. R. James Henry Smeaton 25/1 The Ravenous Crow seemed..to have eyes in the back of his head; for wherever the lunges..seemed likely to strike him, there the inevitable hatchet met them, and turned them aside. 1891T. Hardy Tess of D'Urbervilles II. xxvi. 65 When he should start in the farming business he would require eyes in the back of his head to see to all matters. 1923J. Conrad Rover 192 You had better tell him that unless he has a pair of eyes at the back of his head he had better not return here—not return at all; for if he does, nothing can save him from a treacherous blow. 1976Bridgwater Mercury 21 Dec. 1/4 We were so crowded all the time I'm sure we must have lost some stock. One needed eyes in the back of one's head! 2000Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) (Electronic ed.) 11 Aug. Estrogen speeds up nerve impulses so messages get across very fast, enabling women to think very quickly with the proverbial eyes at the back of their heads.
▸ eye-candy n. colloq. something visually arresting but intellectually undemanding; a person who is very attractive to look at, but sometimes has little else to recommend him or her; cf ear candy n. at ear n.1 Additions, arm candy n. at arm n.1 Additions.
1986D. G. Kehl & D. Heidt in D. Seyler & C. Boltz Lang. Power (ed. 2) 211 This ad also features an elegantly dressed woman with conspicuous cleavage, which advertising executives reportedly refer to as ‘*eye candy’. 1994Guardian 16 Nov. i. 28/7 The success of Stargate has stunned the Hollywood establishment. Trashed in reviews as ‘eye-candy’, the partly French-financed film adopted the novel promotional strategy of advertising on-line. 1997Daily Tel. 11 Apr. 19/1 But Baywatch, we are told, is not just mildly salacious eye-candy. 2001Mode Feb. 22/2 There's a bar called the Trainwreck where you're guaranteed to go home with some eye candy.
▪ II. † eye, n.2 Obs.
[Used erroneously for nye, neye; a neye = an eye. Cf. adder, eyas, etc.]
A brood (of pheasants).
c1430Bk. Hawkyng in Rel. Ant. I. 296, I have founde a covey of pertrich..and eye of fesaunts. 1579E. K. Gloss. Spenser's Sheph. Cal. Apr. 118. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 252 When you have found an Eye of Pheasants..place your Nets hollow, loose, and circular-wise. 1725in Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Pheasant.
▪ III. † eye, n.3 Obs. rare—1.
In 5 pl. eyen.
(Of doubtful meaning: perh. some error.)
c1440Bone Flor. 845 Syr Garcy went crowlande for fayne As rampande eyen do in the rayne.
▪ IV. eye, v.|aɪ|
[f. eye n.1]
I.
†1. trans. To perceive with the eyes; to see. lit. and fig. Obs.
1583Stanyhurst Aeneis iv. (Arb.) 102 Eyest thou this filthood? 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 77 Never in her life-time ever eyed the Princesse a more pleasing spectacle. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. i. 64 They..who in the performing of divine duties, eye not God through them. 1725Pope Odyss. x. 690 The paths of gods what mortal can survey? Who eyes their motion? 1779J. Newton in Olney Hymns iii. No. 58 His heart revives, if cross the plains He eyes his home.
2. a. To direct the eyes to, fix the eyes upon, look at or upon, behold, observe. Often with a word or phrase indicative of some feeling (e.g. anger, suspicion, wonder, etc.). to eye askance, eye askant: see askance, askant.
1566T. Stapleton Ret. Untr. Jewel iv. 148 Gentle Reader! Eye M. Jewel wel. 1610Shakes. Temp. iii. i. 40 Full many a Lady I haue ey'd with best regard. 1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. 12 Eye well those heroes who have held their heads above water. 1725Pope Odyss. xvii. 443 They..eye the man, majestic in distress. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xvii, They eyed the prisoners with curiosity. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. ii, The public..were eyeing..the empty platform. 1848M. Arnold Tristram & Iseult Poems (1877) 215 The knights eyed her in surprise. 1883W. C. Russell Sea Queen III. xii. 271 My father eyed her askant.
fig.1689Hickeringill The Ceremony-Monger Wks. (1716) II. 437 Eying nothing of..the Beauties of the Mind.
†b. To look upon, regard as (so and so). Obs.
1659W. Brough Sacr. Princ. 240 Eying men as mortal and mutable. 1673J. Janeway Heaven on E. (1847) 67 We do not sufficiently eye God as the fountain..of all our excellency.
3. To keep an eye on; to observe narrowly.
1586A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 101 At one time or other I have..eyed the demeanours, issues and dispositions of sundry humors. 1611Bible 1 Sam. xviii. 9 And Saul eyed Dauid from that day. 1639Fuller Holy War iv. xxvi. (1647) 215 It being good to eye a suspicious person. 1667Pepys Diary (1877) V. 385, I observed my wife to eye my eyes whether I did ever look upon Deb. 1672Sir T. Browne Lett. Friend (1712) 33 In consumptive Diseases some eye the Complexion of Moles. 1725Pope Odyss. xiii. 36 He sat, and ey'd the sun, and wished the night; Slow seemed the sun to move. 1797–1804T. Bewick Brit. Birds (1847) I. 139 He..succeeded in eyeing the bird to the distant passage..by which it entered and left its nest. 1812H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. xiii. (1873) 120, I've stood and eyed the builders. 1877H. A. Page De Quincy I. iv. 81 Had eyed the lad hovering about the house.
†4. To have or keep in view; to aim at (a mark). Of an expression, text, etc.: To refer to. Obs.
1590Spenser F.Q. ii. iv. 7 The aymed marke, which he had eide. 1594West 2nd Pt. Symbol. §219 In which are chiefly to be eyed the matter and forme. 1621–31Laud Sev. Serm. (1847) 34 The letter of the psalm reads David..the spirit of the psalm eyes Christ. 1625–8tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. iii. (1688) 367 God, whom alone I eyed and respected. 1659Fuller App. Inj. Innoc. (1840) 563 This my expression did eye another person. 1669Penn No Cross xxii. §3 Let the Glories of another World be ey'd. 1771Wesley Wks. (1872) V. 201 Therefore, eye him in all.
†5. intr.
a. To look or appear to the eye.
b. To have an eye to, look to. Obs.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. iii. 97 My becommings kill me, when they do not Eye well to you. 1627–77Feltham Resolves i. xiv. 22 As if one were, for the contentment of this life; and the other, eying to that of the life to come.
II.
6. trans. To furnish with eyes, in senses 20 and 21 of the n.
1854T. Morrall Needle-making 30 In that [stage] of eying..4,000 [needles] per hour are..easily produced. 1867F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 48 On the tails eye hang a triangle also eyed. 1883Harper's Mag. 933/1 The ends of the strands are ‘eyed’.
7. intr. Of eggs: to form eyes (see eye n.1 12 c).
1904Daily Chron. 25 Mar. 8/3 The eggs take from six weeks to three months to ‘eye’, as it is called.
Hence ˈeyeing vbl. n., the action of the vb. eye.
a1732T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 3 A wise eying of the hand of God in all we find to bear hard upon us.
▪ V. eye
obs. form of awe, egg. |