eyeballn.
/ˈʌɪbɔːl/, U.S. /ˈaɪˌbɔl/, /ˈaɪˌbɑl/ 1.
a. The pupil, pupil and iris together, or (in later use) all of the visible part of the eye. Cf. ball of the eye at ball n.1 14, apple of the eye at apple n. 6. Now rare.Sometimes in contexts where the eye is regarded as expressive of a person's attitude, emotional state, etc.Occasionally difficult to distinguish from sense 1b.
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the world > life > the body > sense organ > sight organ > parts of sight organ > [noun] > other parts
whitec1390
crystalline humoura1398
crystalloida1398
crystalline?a1425
eyeball1575
eyeglassa1616
crystalline lens1654
crystal1657
lens1719
membranula1821
zonule1828
angle1830
disc1861
1575 W. Patten Cal. Script. f. 178v Myne eye ball [L. pupilla mea].
1593 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis sig. Biijv Hold vp thy head, Looke in mine ey-bals . View more context for this quotation
1607 T. Heywood Woman Kilde with Kindnesse sig. B3v Your company is as my eye-ball deere.
a1627 W. Rowley & T. Middleton Wit at Severall Weapons i. ii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Iiiiii4v/2 The brow of a Military face may not be offensive to your generous eye-balls.
1660 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. III. iv. 13 It is..likely, that all living creatures which have eye-balls, oblique and narrow,..have a peculiar phantasie of objects.
1706 Philos. Trans. 1704–05 (Royal Soc.) 24 2179 I lifted up his Eye-lids, and found his Eye-balls drawn up under his Eye-brows, and fixt without any motion at all.
1794 tr. P. N. Chantreau Philos., Polit., & Lit. Trav. Russia II. xx. 291 Their eye-balls are generally of a dark brown, their lips thick and fleshy, their chin is short, their teeth are very white.
a1839 W. M. Praed Poems (1864) II. 397 A fitful light in his eyeball glistened.
1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxiv. 219 Ere..these dimly lit eye-balls Feed to the full on thee.
1894 A. Robertson Nuggets 164 I raked him across the bows with my two black eyeballs.
1921 Farmers' Bull. (U.S. Dept. Agric.) No. 1155. 25 The eyeball may become clouded or milk white.
b. The whole eye, either as contained within the eyelids and eye socket or as removed from the body; = globe n. 5.
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the world > life > the body > sense organ > sight organ > parts of sight organ > [noun] > eyeball
balla1400
eye-apple1549
eyeball1594
globe of the eye1615
stivea1642
ocular globe1885
1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. D1v About he walkes, Rowling his greedie eye-bals in his head. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Dryden Indian Emperour ii. i. 17 I feel..my Eye-balls rowl.
1700 J. Addison Milton's Stile Imitated iii, in Misc. Wks. (1726) I. 62 There gap'd The spacious hollow where his eye-ball roll'd, A ghastly orifice.
1746 J. Parsons Human Physiognomy i. 14 Because Santorini, in his Figure of the Face, makes the Eye-lids meet upon the very Equator of the Eye-ball.
1802 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 92 354 The eye-lid is very loose upon the eye-ball.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. xvii. 317 Harold's mighty figure..an arrow in his eyeball.
1930 H. G. Newth Marshall & Hurst's Junior Course Pract. Zool. (ed. 11) xiii. 306 The cranium proper, or brain-case, forms the posterior part of the skull, and is situated almost completely behind the orbits, or sockets for the eyeballs.
1988 L. Colwin Home Cooking vi. 38 I will never eat fish eyeballs.
2002 Hotdog June 75/1 I'm gonna give you three seconds..to wipe that stupid-looking grin off your face or I will gouge out your eyeballs!
2. In extended use. A person who (or occasionally a thing which) watches someone or something.
a. In plural. Chiefly Marketing. The audience of a visual medium, as a television programme or a website; viewers, esp. regarded as a source of potential revenue. Also: the readership of a printed medium.
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society > communication > reading > reader > [noun] > collectively
audience1760
reading public1812
eyes1919
eyeball1970
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > advertising > [noun] > person(s) to whom advertising addressed
advertisee1845
admass1957
eyeball1970
1970 Walla Walla (Washington) Union-Bull. 3 Apr. 4/3 It [sc. violence on TV] has viewer-appeal, and, you know, we want the largest number of eyeballs per dollar.
1997 N.Y. Mag. 10 Mar. 22/1 There aren't enough eyeballs online to satisfy advertisers.
2001 Sci. Fiction Chron. June 50/1 (advt.) Reach 24,000 eyeballs (average 2 per reader) when you advertise here.
b. Originally Military. Someone or something positioned so as to be able to view or monitor a situation, area, etc., and relay relevant information; an observer. Frequently in plural.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > one who sees > [noun] > observer
advisora1325
viewer1572
notary1589
observator1642
remarkera1684
noticer1880
observer1925
eyeball1976
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > vigilance > keeping watch > [noun] > surveillance > specific surveillance equipment
spy-camera1968
eyeball1976
Gatso1978
1976 Pacific Stars & Stripes (Tokyo) 30 May 7/5 They [sc. electronic surveillance stations] are our eyeballs that can tell us how to prepare our future defense forces.
1988 Toronto Star 19 Aug. a1/2 Canada's military observers helping to monitor the ceasefire between Iraq and Iran will simply be ‘eyeballs on the ground’, says Maj. Romas Blekaitis, who is one of them.
2001 Mirror 26 Oct. 4 There simply is no substitute for an eyeball on the ground. The only way to go ahead with the bombing option is if intelligence experts can pinpoint his hideout.
2014 A. Britton Courier iv. 77 Rayhan asked Duke to forward her the data... Whatever was going on out there, the United States needed to have eyeballs on the scene.
Phrases
P1. colloquial (originally and chiefly Australian). to work (also slave) one's eyeballs out: to work extremely hard, esp. at a gruelling manual task; to exert oneself to the fullest extent. Cf. to work one's eyes out at work v. Phrases 5a.
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1835 Sydney Herald 18 June 4/1 It is contrary to morals and jistice to let a poor fallow work his eyeballs out for a yard o'tripe.
1848 Cornwall Chron. (Launceston, Austral.) 29 Mar. 2/4 His regard for Mr. Turner was not sufficient to induce him to slave his eyeballs out merely because he chose to keep cows!
1939 Cumberland Argus & Fruitgrowers' Advocate (Parramatta, New S. Wales) 4 Oct. 1/3 I suppose your wife is working her eyeballs out at home, and you're drinking pinkie down the lane.
2000 InfoWorld 24 July 52/2 I wonder what would have happened if..you'd spent the $20K and three months retraining the poor schmuck who worked his eyeballs out fixing your Y2K problems.
P2. colloquial (originally U.S.). up to one's (also the) eyeballs (also to the eyeballs).
a. Completely, extensively; = up to the eyes (eye n.1 Phrases 1g(b)).
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1886 Aurelia (Iowa) Sentinel 29 Apr. Frum what I cud diskiver thars nuthin to hender um frum stuffin therselves to the eyeballs with cake.
1912 G. Ade Knocking Neighbors 138 They had covertly planned to get him Saturated to the Eye-Balls.
1933 M. Lowry Ultramarine i. 51 That boy got all poxed up to the eyeballs, voyage before last... Yes, he was poxed all away to hell.
1986 Sunday Times 6 Apr. 68/5 Any borrowers who are wary of gearing themselves up to the eyeballs run the risk of being labelled wimps.
2000 New Republic 8 May 38/1 The attempt to sell stock in the road was a failure. The associates borrowed up to their eyeballs, but they needed more.
b. Immersed or involved deeply in; = up to the eyes (eye n.1 Phrases 1g(a)).
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a1907 ‘L. C. Pyrnelle’ Miss Li'l' Tweetty (1917) xv. 163 Aunt Tillotsy..wuz plum up to her eyeballs in wuck [= work].
1964 Boys' Life 26/2 I bet we'll be up to our eyeballs in hot water.
1982 World Affairs 146 88 The Soviets have been up to their eyeballs in training terrorist organizations and providing the logistics in the past.
2006 R. H. Miller & D. M. Bissell Med School Confidential xii. 131 As we join Curly, he's up to his eyeballs in the first weeks of medical school.
P3. colloquial.
a. In phrases relating to the action of looking at, watching, or catching sight of (someone or something), as to lay (also get, have, keep, etc.) an (also one's) eyeball on.Cf. to keep (also have) an (or one's) eye on (also upon) at eye n.1 Phrases 2l(a).
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1900 Punch 25 Apr. 294/3 Keep your Eyeball on J. Musker, Esquire, and his Muskerteers.
1947 Salt Lake Tribune 2 Nov. b17/2 (advt.) The ‘purtiest’ desks you have ever laid an eyeball on are now on display at Western Trading.
1966 Grand Prairie (Texas) Daily News 29 Sept. 12/2 Ford will be showing off its new models..Monday thru Sunday. Better put an eyeball on 'em.
1987 Toronto Star (Nexis) 22 July f6 The leviathan [sc. a fish]..dug deep and hung tough for almost 30 minutes before he got an eyeball on it.
1993 C. P. McDonald & A. E. Smith Under Contract 155 McBride and Stanley..felt they could at least take positions in the parking lot to keep an eyeball on things.
2012 Chicago Tribune (Online ed.) 1 Feb. Officers knew when Paul had his eyeball on them, they were in good hands.
b. Originally U.S. to keep an eyeball out: to keep watch, be alert (for something or someone); = to keep an eye out at eye n.1 Phrases 2l(e).
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1972 T. McGuire Tooth Trip iii. 35 Parents should keep an eyeball out for this. It could save you thousands..in braces.
1975 Progress (Clearfield, Pa.) 11 Apr. 14/4 I'll keep an eyeball out for that cotton-picking Smokey.
1990 Pacific Stars & Stripes (Tokyo) 8 June 24/4 We'll keep an eyeball out for new developments.
1996 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 15 Mar. (Seminole Times section) 1 That $ 15 paid for his cooperation, keeping an eyeball out.
2008 Daily Mirror (Eire ed.) (Nexis) 22 Feb. 39 [When buying a car] do keep an eyeball out for something with service history .
P4. eyeball to eyeball: face to face and in close proximity; (later frequently) figurative in extremely close confrontation, esp. in a contest of nerve or an attempt by each party to intimidate the other. Also attributive (usually with hyphens).
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the world > space > relative position > opposite position > [adverb] > facing > face to face
afrontc1380
face-to-facedly1876
eyeball to eyeball1908
the world > action or operation > difficulty > opposition > in the face of or in opposition [phrase] > in unyielding confrontation
eyeball to eyeball1962
1908 E. Phillpotts in Pall Mall Mag. Oct. 406/2 What maid on earth but you would meet me eyeball to eyeball and never drop her glance?
1951 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 1 Oct. 18/2 You couldn't go one hundred yards in front of our line without running into the enemy. As someone said last spring, we were eyeball to eyeball over there.
1951 Daily Mirror 10 Nov. 1/1 What the troops called an eyeball-to-eyeball battle.
1956 Gastonia (N. Carolina) Gaz. 5 Nov. 4/7 Making eyeball-to-eyeball stares with coeds in tight-fitting sweaters.
1962 Washington Post 3 Dec. a13/4 On Wednesday when the first Soviet ships turned back.., [Dean] Rusk said to Bundy: ‘We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked.’
1966 Guardian 16 June 1/3 Mr Wilson said we ought not to ‘contract out and leave it to the Americans and Chinese eyeball to eyeball’.
1970 M. Kelly Spinifex iii. 65 Two extremely ambitious dogs are eyeball to eyeball over the same bone.
1993 Esquire Dec. 54/2 As the nation's first post-cold-war President, he lacked a worthy Russian to go eyeball-to-eyeball with on the world stage.
2010 D. J. Schemo Skies to Conquer iii. 35 The drill sergeant is toughness personified, eternally barking orders eyeball to eyeball with the hapless private.
P5. colloquial. to give (a person) the eyeball: to look or stare at, esp. in a hostile, disapproving, or amorous manner; = to give (a person) the eye at eye n.1 Phrases 2i(d).Cf. to give the hairy eyeball at hairy adj. and n. Additions.
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1923 Jrnl. Outdoor Life 20 325/2 Here we are driving up to the ward... Nineteen patients gave me the eyeball and seemed to be registering pity that I looked so badly.
1940 Pittsburgh Courier 7 Dec. 13/5 She noticed that the handsome young tap dancer was ‘giving her the eyeball’.
1986 Guardian 5 Mar. (Sports section) 28/7 Bruno said later: ‘He tried to give me the eyeball then, but I just stared back—I knew he had to have a sledgehammer to KO me.’
2002 B. DeLeo Amer. Mutant 249 She really gave you the eyeball when we walked on, and every time she walks up here she smiles at you.
P6. Originally and chiefly U.S. by eyeball: by sight alone, by visual estimate; without the use of instruments, precise measurement, etc. Cf. by eye at eye n.1 7.
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1960 Sunday Light (San Antonio, Texas) 21 Aug. a12/8 While the navigator brought the plane close to..the package, there were no magic means to snare it after that. Mitchell said: ‘I did it by eyeball.’
1998 G. Rössel Building Small Boats (2003) 77 This can usually be done just by eyeball instead of meticulously measuring each point's location.
2004 Brownsville (Texas) Herald 18 Dec. c6/5 Before the Mannequin [sc. a ventricle shaper], doctors had to do it by eyeball.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, as eyeball movement, eyeball muscle, eyeball socket, etc.
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1855 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 70 371 A specific sensation in the eyeball muscles.
1895 1st Trans. First Pan-Amer. Med. Congr. ii. 1550 The sarcomatous infiltration extended into the eyeball socket and upper eyelid.
1903 S. V. Clevenger Evol. Man & his Mind xi. 384 The eyelids do not accompany the pupil regularly in their movements, and co-ordination of the eyelids with eyeball movements does not exist at first.
1940 Human Biol. 12 18 No real change in eyeball size after adult weight is reached can be demonstrated.
1951 G. R. de Beer Vertebr. Zool. (ed. 2) xx. 248 This space is the temporal cavity; it is continuous in front with the orbit or eyeball-space.
1983 Flying Mag. Jan. 69/2 Night flying makes you appreciate what an incredibly adaptable piece of optical equipment it is that sits in each eyeball socket.
2002 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 15 June e8 I have been administering Botox to eyeball muscles..of numerous patients who require it.
C2. attributive. Done by sight alone, without the use of instruments, precise measurement, etc.; (in extended use) roughly measured or calculated; as eyeball estimate, eyeball method, eyeball navigation, etc. Cf. by eyeball at Phrases 6, eyeball v. 3.
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1914 Proc. 34th Ann. Convent. Internat. Custom Cutters' Assoc. Amer. 164 I use more or less the Eyeball system; it does not matter where they [sc. pattern pieces] are placed. The sleeve is drafted upon half breast line.
1954 Morning Herald (Maryland) 28 Aug. 20/3 Murphy said that the old fashioned ‘eyeball’ method of determining a credit risk was..ineffective.
1958 Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News 3 Sept. 1/2 [They] had relied on their ‘eyeball estimate’ that there were going to be more [children] than ever—and a spare bus was thrown immediately into the..area.
1963 Describing & Measuring Managerial Ability & Services: Conf. Proc. 1962 28 He may..adopt a nonmathematical or eyeball approximation. This technique is abhorrent to the scientifically inclined.
1965 Washington Post 5 Jan. b4/2 The bottom is visible at most times and piloting is done almost entirely by eye, the depth being judged by the color of the water. ‘Eyeball navigation’, they call it.
1972 Motor Boating & Sailing May 129/1 I was wishing I had my wet suit for that inevitable dip into the glacier-fed waters, but I didn't, so I looked for an alternative to an eyeball inspection of the problem.
1992 Times 2 Jan. (Boating Suppl.) 15/2 Sailing among the Ionian isles is mostly eyeball navigation.
2005 D. Wells NOLS Wilderness Navigation vi. 121 After you have written down your eyeball estimates, double-check them using a grid reader or map ruler.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
eyeballv.
/ˈʌɪbɔːl/, U.S. /ˈaɪˌbɔl/, /ˈaɪˌbɑl/ colloquial.† 1. transitive (reflexive). Australian. To work extremely hard, esp. at a gruelling manual task; to exert oneself to the fullest extent. Cf. to work (also slave) one's eyeballs out at eyeball n. Phrases 1. Obsolete.
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1848 Bell’s Life in Sydney 25 Nov. 2/5 I'm blowed if she a'nt robbed me to some tune, which I thinks is werry hard, considerin how I've been eye-balling myself for her.
1851 Goulburn Herald & County of Argyle Advertiser (Austral.) 19 July 3/1 You would laugh to see him bursting, prising, and eye-balling himself to get the rocks rooted up.
2. Originally U.S.
a. transitive. To look or stare at; to watch; (in later use frequently) spec. to stare at from a short distance away in an intimidating or disapproving manner (cf. to give (a person) the eyeball at eyeball n. Phrases 5). Also (occasionally): to make eye contact with.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (transitive)] > stare or gaze at
bestarec1220
bigapea1250
to gape atc1290
fix14..
to stick one's eyes in (also into)c1485
attacha1500
porec1500
to take feeding (of)c1500
stare1510
(to have) in gaze1577
gaze1591
outstare1596
over-stare1600
devour1628
trysta1694
ogle1795
begaze1802
toise1888
fixate1889
rubberneck1897
eyeball1901
1901 Harper's Mag. Feb. 443/1 ‘God!’ burst from the lips of the man as he eyeballed his attendant.
1942 Amer. Mercury July 85 He would eye-ball the idol-breaker.
1968 Listener 22 Aug. 229/2 This movie is so richly risible that I advise all, in John Wayne's phrase, to go down to the Warner and eyeball it.
1987 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 11 Oct. 49/1 After eyeballing each other at a Washington upper-level diplomatic function, Tom and Susan had retired to a taxi cab.
1993 Daily Tel. 10 May 3/4 The men eyeballed each other, angry words were exchanged and it ended in tragedy.
2009 M. Gee Autumn Kill v. 32 Pushing his nose against the window of the cab, Young eyeballed the Warden.
b. intransitive. To look, gaze; to run one's gaze down, along, etc.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > seeing or looking > see [verb (intransitive)] > scan
scan1934
eyeball1970
1970 A. Cameron et al. Computers & Old Eng. Concordances 60 Errors..will be exposed very quickly because you simply ‘eyeball’ down the centre of the page.
1982 Underground Grammarian Sept. 5/1 They have been taught..to eyeball along to the end of a text.
1995 Field & Stream May 64/1 Hershel tore the gun down and eyeballed down the muzzle.
1999 Palm Beach (Florida) Post (Nexis) 15 Sept. 1 d Next to Madonna is her good pal, the stunningly handsome Rupert Everett. And if you keep eyeballing down the line, you'll see that Everett [etc.].
3. transitive. Originally U.S. To make a visual inspection or assessment of; to measure by sight alone, without the use of an instrument or other guide; to estimate by eye.
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1958 W. F. McCulloch Woods Words 58 Eyeballing a line, making a preliminary survey by eye, mostly by guess, not by instrument.
1972 Bennington (Vermont) Banner 11 Apr. 12/2 Then I tried eyeballing the distance from the mound to where the plate should be. Luckily I played it safe by also using a tape measure.
1988 D. Ing Chernobyl Syndrome 67 After that, it's easy to eyeball smaller marks to get tiny scale ‘inches’.
2006 New Yorker 1 May 46/1 The recipe the shop used (to the extent that one existed—everything was pretty much eyeballed) followed the same if-it's-good-don't-touch-it philosophy.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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