eye-pitn.
/ˈʌɪpɪt/, U.S. /ˈaɪˌpɪt/ The pit or socket of the eye. Also (occasionally): the furrow between the upper eyelid and the brow ridge.
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the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > skull > parts of skull > [noun] > socket of eye
eyethirleOE
ringboneOE
eye-pita1275
pita1275
orbit?a1425
eye-dolpa1522
orbitant?1541
eyehole1572
eyebone1598
socket1601
eye socket1661
eyelet hole1827
a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 49 As beit is heyeputtes [c1275 Calig. eȝe-puttes, a1300 Jesus Oxf. eye-puttes] asse a bruþenleit.
1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. xii. sig. M His cheeke bones raw, and eie-pits hollow grew. View more context for this quotation
1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. P Red-scaled Dragons with deep burning light In their hollow eye-pits: With these she must fight.
c1721 W. Gibson True Method dieting Horses i. 9 The Eyes ought to be full and sprightly, but not too large, and the Eye-pits not sunk.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth III. 78 This animal [sc. the antelope]..has deeper eye pits than the former.
1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 266 By the depth of the eye-pit we are enabled to form some idea of the age of the horse.
1879 E. Arnold Light of Asia 58 His eyepits red with rust of ancient tears.
1900 Harvard Monthly July 195 A flush overspread his cheeks, rising to the black lines beneath his bloated eye-pits.
1947 A. Young Green Man 38 The eye-pits darted a dark ray That searched me to my shadowy skeleton.
2003 N. Rush Mortals xxxii. 490 Ray would be allowed..to lavishly wash his face, his orbits, his eye-pits if that was the name for them.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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