Eye

Pronunciation

• IPA: /aɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: ay, aye, I

From Middle English, from Old English ēaġe ("eye"), from Proto-Germanic *augô ("eye") (compare Scots ee, West Frisian each, Dutch oog, German Auge, Swedish öga), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃okʷ-, *h₃ekʷ- ("eye; to see") (compare Latin oculus, Lithuanian akìs, Old Church Slavonic око (oko), Albanian sy, Ancient Greek ὤψ (ōps, "eye, face"), Armenian ակն (akn), Avestan (aši, "eyes"), Sanskrit अक्षि (ákṣi), Tocharian A ak). Related to ogle.

Full definition of eye

Noun

1. An organ through which animals see.
• 1922, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest Chapter 1, She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 17, The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. ....
• 2013, Fenella Saunders, Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture, The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.
2. Bright lights really hurt my eyes.
3. The visual sense.
   The car was quite pleasing to the eye, but impractical.
4. Attention, notice.
   That dress caught her eye.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 5, In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete. The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness. The Celebrity as a matter of course was master of ceremonies.
5. The ability to notice what others might miss.
   He has an eye for talent.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 19, Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
6. A meaningful stare or look.
   She was giving him the eye at the bar.   When the car cut her off, she gave him the eye.
7. A private eye: a privately hired detective or investigator.
• 2003, Erik Larson, , Random House, ISBN 0609608444, page 199Far more annoying were the letters from parents of missing daughters and the private detectives who had begun showing up at his door. Independently of each other, the Cigrand and Conner families had hired “eyes” to search for their missing daughters.
8. A hole at the blunt end of a needle through which thread is passed.
9. A fitting consisting of a loop of metal or other material, suitable for receiving a hook or the passage of a cord or line.
10. The relatively clear and calm center of a hurricane or other such storm.
11. A mark on an animal, such as a peacock or butterfly, resembling a human eye.
12. The dark spot on a black-eyed pea.
13. A reproductive bud in a potato.
14. (informal) The dark brown center of a black-eyed Susan flower.
15. A loop forming part of anything, or a hole through anything, to receive a rope, hook, pin, shaft, etc. — e.g. at the end of a tie bar in a bridge truss; through a crank; at the end of a rope; or through a millstone.
16. That which resembles the eye in relative importance or beauty.
• unknown date William Shakespearethe very eye of that proverb
• unknown date John MiltonAthens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts
17. Tinge; shade of colour.
• unknown date BoyleRed with an eye of blue makes a purple.
18. One of the holes in certain kinds of cheese.

Synonyms

• (loop of metal) eyelet
• (ability to notice what others might miss) perceptiveness

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Verb

1. To observe carefully.After eyeing the document for an hour she decided not to sign it.They went out and eyed the new car one last time before deciding.
• 1859, Fraser's Magazine (volume 60, page 671)Each downcast monk in silence takes
  His place a newmade grave around,
  Each one his brother sadly eying.
2. To view something narrowly, as a document or a phrase in a document.
3. To look at someone or something as if with the intent to do something with that person or thing.
4. (obsolete) To appear; to look.
• ShakespeareMy becomings kill me, when they do not eye well to you.

Derived terms

• eye up

Probably from a nye changing to an eye.

Noun

1. A brood.an eye of pheasants

Anagrams

• yee