eye
/ˈaɪ̯/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms eyes eyen eyeing eying eyed ee eie ey i
- noun An organ through which animals see (“perceive surroundings via light”). “Bright lights really hurt my eyes.”
- noun The visual sense. “The car was quite pleasing to the eye, but impractical.”
- noun The iris of the eye, being of a specified colour. “Brown, blue, green, hazel eyes.”
- noun Attention, notice. “That dress caught her eye.”
- noun The ability to notice what others might miss. “He has an eye for talent.”
- noun A sexually or romantically suggestive one. “She was giving him the eye at the bar.”
- noun An angry, annoyed, or malicious one. “When the car cut her off, she gave him the eye.”
- noun An evil one. “He sought the help of an alchemist regarding remedies to ward off the eye.”
- verb (transitive) To carefully or appraisingly observe (someone or something). “After eyeing the document for half an hour, she decided not to sign it.”
- verb (transitive) To consider. “Mr. Smith is eyeing a departmental reorganization plan.”
- verb (intransitive, obsolete) To appear; to look.
- verb (transitive) To remove the reproductive buds from (potatoes).
- verb (transitive) To allow (fish eggs) to develop so that the black eye spots are visible.
- noun The name of the Latin script letter I/i.
- noun A brood. “an eye of pheasants”
- proper noun A large village and civil parish in the City of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England (OS grid ref TF2202).
- proper noun A small village in Eye, Moreton and Ashton parish, north Herefordshire, England (OS grid ref SO4963).
- proper noun A small town and civil parish with a town council in Mid Suffolk district, Suffolk, England (OS grid ref TM1473).
- proper noun A short river in Cotswold district, Gloucestershire, England, which joins the River Dikler.
- proper noun A river in Melton borough, Leicestershire, England, which becomes the River Wreake.
Synonyms
eyeball perceptiveness stink eye evil eye pit-eye glim globe lurk mince pie ogle optic orb peeper gaze oculus center centre middle heart
Etymology
From Middle English e, eye, eyghe, eyȝe, eȝhe, iȝe, ye, yhe, from Old English ēage, ēge (“eye”), from Proto-West Germanic *augā, from Proto-Germanic *augô (“eye”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- (“eye; to see”). Related to ogle.
Cognate with Yola iee (“eye”), Scots ee, eh (“eye”), North Frisian oog, uuch, uug (“eye”), Saterland Frisian Oge, Ooge (“eye”), West Frisian each (“eye”), Alemannic German, Bavarian Aug (“eye”), Central Franconian Au, Auch, Ooch (“eye”), Dutch oog (“eye”), German Aug, Auge (“eye”), Low German Auge, Oog (“eye”), Luxembourgish A (“eye”), Vilamovian aojg, aug, oüg (“eye”), Yiddish אויג (oyg, “eye”), Danish øje (“eye”), Elfdalian oga (“eye”), Faroese eyga (“eye”), Icelandic auga (“eye”), Norwegian Bokmål øye (“eye”), Norwegian Nynorsk aua, aue, auga, auge (“eye”), Scanian yva (“eye”), Swedish öga (“eye”), Crimean Gothic oeghene (“eyes”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌲𐍉 (augō, “eye”), Estonian auk (“hole”), Finnish and Votic aukko (“hole”), Ingrian aukko, aukku (“hole”), Livonian ouk (“hole; hollow”).
Other Indo-European cognates include Breton eneb (“inverse; face; honour”), Cornish enep (“face; exterior; surface”), Gaulish ops (“eye”), Old Irish enech (“face; front; honour”), Welsh wyneb (“face; front; cheek”), Latin oclus, oculus (“eye”), Ancient Greek ὄψ (óps, “eye; face”), Albanian sy (“eye”), Latgalian and Latvian acs (“eye”), Lithuanian and Samogitian akis (“eye”), Old Prussian ackis (“eye”), Belarusian во́ка (vóka, “eye”), Bulgarian and Macedonian око́ (okó, “eye”), Carpathian Rusyn, Russian, and Ukrainian о́ко (óko, “eye”), Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Slovene oko (“eye”), Kashubian òkò (“eye”), Lower Sorbian hoko, woko (“eye”), Polabian våťü (“eye”), Serbo-Croatian о̏ко, ȍko (“eye”), Silesian ôko (“eye”), Slovincian wôkô (“eye”), Upper Sorbian woko (“eye”), Armenian ակն (akn, “eye”), Northern Kurdish enî (“forehead”), Ashkun aċĩ (“eye”), Kamkata-viri ače, ačẽ, ači (“eye”), Prasuni ižī, ižĩ (“eye”), Tregami ac̣ĩ (“eye”), Waigali ačẽ (“eye”), Tocharian A ak (“eye”), Tocharian B ek (“eye”), Sanskrit अक्षि (akṣi, “eye”).
The archaic plural form eyen is from Middle English eyen, from Old English ēaġan, nominative and accusative plural of ēaġe (“eye”).
Probably from rebracketing of a nye as an eye.
From Old English īeġ (“island”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A brood; as, an eye of pheasants.
- noun The organ of sight or vision. In man, and the vertebrates generally, it is properly the movable ball or globe in the orbit, but the term often includes the adjacent parts. In most invertebrates the years are immovable ocelli, or compound eyes made up of numerous ocelli. See Ocellus. Description of illustration: a b Conjunctiva; c Cornea; d Sclerotic; e Choroid; f Cillary Muscle; g Cillary Process; h Iris; i Suspensory Ligament; k Prosterior Aqueous Chamber between h and i; l Anterior Aqueous Chamber; m Crystalline Lens; n Vitreous Humor; o Retina; p Yellow spot; q Center of blind spot; r Arter
- noun The faculty of seeing; power or range of vision; hence, judgment or taste in the use of the eye, and in judging of objects; as, to have the eye of sailor; an eye for the beautiful or picturesque.
- verb To fix the eye on; to look on; to view; to observe; particularly, to observe or watch narrowly, or with fixed attention; to hold in view.
Etymology [Prob. fr. nye, an eye being for a nye. See Nye.]
Etymology [OE. eghe, eighe, eie, eye, AS. eáge; akin to OFries. age, OS. ga, D. oog, Ohg. ouga, G. auge, Icel. auga, Sw. öga, Dan. öie, Goth. aug; cf. OSlav. oko, Lish. akis, L. okulus, Gr. , eye, , the two eyes, Skr. akshi. Diasy, Ocular, Optic, Eyelet, Ogle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “eye”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details