naked eyen.adj.
/ˌneɪkᵻd ˈʌɪ/, U.S. /ˌneɪkᵻd ˈaɪ/ A. n.
An eye unassisted by a microscope, telescope, or other means of optical magnification. Usually with the: normal human vision, unaided by magnifying instruments, etc.Not normally used in contrast to poor vision corrected by spectacles, etc.; but see quot. 1787.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sense organ > sight organ > [noun]
eyeeOE
eilthirlc1225
windowc1230
naked eye1651
bare eye1664
naked sight1698
1651 F. Palmer in W. Cartwright Comedies sig. **6 Pictures are drawn by mystick Art, To naked Eyes that shew no part; But if you put a Glass between, Then all the Curious Lines are seen.
1661 R. Hooke Attempt for Explication of Phaenomena, Observable 22 With your naked eye you would very hardly have seen the body of it.
1672 N. Grew Anat. Veg. iii. 77 As the Tract of these Pores appear to the naked Eye.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 121. ¶9 Such [creatures] as are bulky enough for the naked Eye to take hold of.
1787 F. Burney Diary & Lett. (1842) III. vii. 282 With my glass..I can see just as other people see with the naked eye.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. ix. 195 Their distance was so great that they could not be distinguished by the naked eye.
1875 H. E. Manning Internal Mission of Holy Ghost xiii. 359 The naked eye cannot perceive them, but the power of the microscope reveals them.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xiii. 252 If we open the barrel-shaped cocoon.., we find inside what looks to the naked eye a creamy mass.
1965 Listener 20 May 741/1 The whole cycle of changes is easy to follow with the naked eye.
1991 Notes & Rec. Royal Soc. 45 44 Newton's last sight of the comet, as ever without telescope to aid his naked eye.
B. adj.
Visible without optical magnification; apparent to the naked eye. Of an observation or measurement: made with the naked eye; relating to the use of the naked eye in making astronomical observations.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > visibility > [adjective] > to naked eye
naked eye1866
macroscopic1872
macroscopical1876
megascopic1879
lucid1893
1866 Proc. Royal Soc. 15 146 As Sir John Herschel's position was laid down merely by naked eye allineations, the star seen by him may have been possibly a former temporary outburst of light in this remarkable object.
1876 Trans. Clin. Soc. 9 138 The naked-eye characters being..characteristic.
1897 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. III. 963 There was no naked-eye damage to the cord.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 11 Aug. 12/1 The other naked-eye planets are too near the sun to be visible.
1930 Times Educ. Suppl. 5 Jan. p. iv/3 Within the limit of the naked-eye visibility.
1965 Listener 20 May 741/1 Another naked-eye cluster is Præsepe in Cancer, now well placed during the evenings.
1998 J. L. Heilbron Geom. Civilized iii. 107 Refraction enters into naked-eye astronomy because light rays bend more and more as they penetrate into deeper, and thus denser, layers of the atmosphere.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.1651