eye

plural eyes · archaic dialectal plural eyen · alternative Northern England Scotland archaic ee · alternative obsolete eie · alternative obsolete ey

1. An organ through which animals see (“perceive surroundings via light”).

   Near-synonym: eyeball

   5 more examples

   Bright lights really hurt my eyes.

   To vvhat, my loue, ſhall I compare thine eyne? / Chriſtall is muddy.

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

   Were it to search the furthest Northern clime / Where frosty Hyems with an ycie Mace / Strikes dead all living things, Ide find it out, / And borrowing fire from those fayre sunny eyne / Thaw Winters frost and warme that dead cold clime: […]

   1605, The Trial of Chivalry

   Now with a bitter smile, whose light did shine / Like a fiend’s hope upon his lips and eyne, / He said, and the persuasion of that sneer / Rallied his trembling comrades— […]

   1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 361

   It is scarcely possible to avoid comparing the eye to a telescope.

   1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Difficulties on Theory”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 188

   Synonyms: eyeball

2. The visual sense.

   The car was quite pleasing to the eye, but impractical.

3. The iris of the eye, being of a specified colour.

   Brown, blue, green, hazel eyes.

   1 more example

   Natalie’s brown eyes looked into Jim’s blue eyes, and the girl and boy flirted.

4. Attention, notice.

   That dress caught her eye.

   1 more example

   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.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

5. The ability to notice what others might miss.

   He has an eye for talent.

   1 more example

   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.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms: perceptiveness

6. A meaningful look or stare.
   1. usuallyA sexually or romantically suggestive one.

      She was giving him the eye at the bar.

   2. usuallyAn angry, annoyed, or malicious one.

      When the car cut her off, she gave him the eye.

      Synonyms: stink eye

   3. usuallyAn evil one.

      He sought the help of an alchemist regarding remedies to ward off the eye.

      Synonyms: stink eye, evil eye

7. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of private eye.

   Far 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.

   2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Random House, →ISBN, page 199

8. A hole at the blunt end of a needle through which thread is passed.
9. The oval hole of an axehead through which the axehandle is fitted.

   [H]e struck the Duffer a sharp blow on the back of the head with the eye of the axe, and left him stunned and senseless on the earth[.]

   1856 October 18, The People’s Advocate and New South Wales Vindicator, Sydney, N.S.W., page 6, column 1

10. A fitting consisting of a loop of metal or other material, suitable for receiving a hook or the passage of a cord or line.
11. A loop forming part of anything, or a hole through anything, to receive a hook, pin, rope, shaft, etc.; for example, at the end of a tie bar in a bridge truss, through a crank, at the end of a rope, or through a millstone.
12. USA burner on a kitchen stove, hob, or cooktop.
13. A central and focal portion of any of several things.
    1. The relatively calm and clear centre of a hurricane or other cyclonic storm.

       the eye of the storm

       1 more example

       the eye of the hurricane

    2. informalThe dark brown centre of a black-eyed Susan flower.
    3. The hilum of a seed or bean, or the hilum plus any rings of color that surround it; for example, the dark spot on a black-eyed pea.
    4. architectureThe circle in the centre of a volute.
    5. A central area in a portion of a carcass being butchered into cuts of meat, such as a certain muscle partly surrounded by fat (for example, a longissimus dorsi); a cut that includes a portion of it.

       rib eye

       1 more example

       loin eye

14. A mark on an animal, such as a butterfly or peacock, resembling a human eye.
15. A reproductive bud in a potato.
16. That which resembles the eye in relative beauty or importance.

    the very eye of that proverb

    1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii]

    1 more example

    Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts

    1671, John Milton, “(please specify the page)”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC

17. A shade of colour; a tinge.

    Red vvith an Eye of Blevv, makes a Purple; and by theſe ſimple Compoſitions again Compounded among themſelves, the Skilful Painter can produce vvhat kind of Colour he pleaſes, and a great many more than vve have yet Names for.

    1664, Robert Boyle, “Experiment XII”, in Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours. […], London: […] Henry Herringman […], →OCLC, part III (Containing Promiscuous Experiments about Colours), page 220

18. One of the holes in certain kinds of cheese.
19. in pluralnauticalThe foremost part of a ship's bows; the hawseholes.
20. mediaThe enclosed counter (“negative space”) of the lower-case letter e.

    The “e” was a bit over-inked, with a blacked-out eye.

    2022, Hernan Diaz, Trust, Picador (2023)

21. goAn empty point or group of points surrounded by one player's stones.
22. plural normallyOpinion, view.

    This victory will make us great in the eyes of the world.

23. businessSynonym of pit-eye.

    Synonyms: pit-eye

present singular third person eyes · participle present eyeing · participle present rare eying · participle past eyed · past eyed · alternative Northern England Scotland archaic ee · alternative obsolete eie · alternative obsolete ey

1. transitiveTo carefully or appraisingly observe (someone or something).

   They went out and eyed the new car one last time before deciding.

   2 more examples

   After eyeing the document for half an hour, she decided not to sign it.

   Each downcast monk in silence takes / His place a newmade grave around, / Each one his brother sadly eying.

   1859, Fraser’s Magazine, volume 60, page 671

   Synonyms: gaze

2. transitiveTo consider.

   Mr. Smith is eyeing a departmental reorganization plan.

   1 more example

   Developers eyeing Merrillville as a potential spot for a data center will now have to wait a little longer to approach the Town Council.

   2026 July 18, Michelle L. Quinn, “Merrillville council extends data center moratorium by 6 months”, in Chicago Tribune, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2026

3. intransitiveobsoleteTo appear; to look.

   My becomings kill me, when they do not eye well to you.

   c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]

4. transitiveTo remove the reproductive buds from (potatoes).

   Once the potatoes have been rumbled they require 'eyeing' with a turning knife or hand peeler.

   1996, Food Preparation and Cooking, page 418

   1 more example

   My first assignment was eyeing old potatoes. The Siegler brothers would buy potatoes so old they looked like an octopus. My job was to make them look presentable and, of course, sellable.

   2012, Bob Vargovcik, Bayonne Boy, page 19

5. transitiveTo allow (fish eggs) to develop so that the black eye spots are visible.

   Eggs were collected from the Taylor Creek, Upper Truckee River, and Blackwood Creek traps and transported to this station to be eyed […]

   1927, Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly of the Forty-Seventh Session of the Legislature of the State of California

plural eyes · alternative i

1. The name of the Latin script letter I/i.

   IED [is spoken] as "eye-ee-dee" instead of "I SPELL India Echo Delta Romeo".

   2016 CCEB, Communications Instructions Radiotelephone Procedures: ACP125 (G), pages 3–5

   1 more example

   It said, in a whispering, buzzing voice, "Gee-you-ess-ess-ay-dash-em-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-em-eye-en-gee-oh-dash-pee-eye-pee-dash-pee-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-pee-eye-en-gee-oh."

   2004, Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, page 170

plural eyes

1. A brood.

   an eye of pheasants

1. A place name:
   1. A large village and civil parish in the City of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England (OS grid ref TF2202).
   2. A small village in Eye, Moreton and Ashton parish, north Herefordshire, England (OS grid ref SO4963).
   3. A small town and civil parish with a town council in Mid Suffolk district, Suffolk, England (OS grid ref TM1473).
   4. A short river in Cotswold district, Gloucestershire, England, which joins the River Dikler.
   5. A river in Melton borough, Leicestershire, England, which becomes the River Wreake.
   6. A former unincorporated community in Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States.

1. UKcolloquial"the Eye"the comedic magazine Private Eye.
2. UK"the Eye"The London Eye, a tourist attraction in London.