eye

Noun (1)

eye (plural eyes or (archaic or dialectal) eyen)

1. An organ through which animals see (“perceive surroundings via light”).
   • Near-synonym: eyeball
   • Bright lights really hurt my eyes.

   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.
   • Natalie’s brown eyes looked into Jim’s blue eyes, and the girl and boy flirted.
4. Attention, notice.
   • That dress caught her eye.
   • 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.
   • 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...1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   perceptiveness

6. (usually) A sexually or romantically suggestive one.
   • She was giving him the eye at the bar.
7. (usually) An angry, annoyed, or malicious one.
   • When the car cut her off, she gave him the eye.

   Synonyms:

   stink eye

8. (usually) An evil one.
   • He sought the help of an alchemist regarding remedies to ward off the eye.

   Synonyms:

   stink eye, evil eye

9. A hole at the blunt end of a needle through which thread is passed.
10. 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
11. A fitting consisting of a loop of metal or other material, suitable for receiving a hook or the passage of a cord or line.
12. 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.

Verb

eye (third-person singular simple present eyes, present participle eyeing or (rare) eying, simple past and past participle eyed)

1. (transitive) To carefully or appraisingly observe (someone or something).
   • After eyeing the document for half an hour, she decided not to sign it.
   • They went out and eyed the new car one last time before deciding.

   Synonyms:

   gaze

2. (transitive) To consider.
   • Mr. Smith is eyeing a departmental reorganization plan.
   • 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. (intransitive, obsolete) To 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...
4. (transitive) To 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
   • 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. (transitive) To 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

Noun (2)

eye (plural eyes)

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

Noun (3)

eye (plural eyes)

1. A brood.
   • an eye of pheasants

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Eye

IPA/ˈaɪ/

Eye

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.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Eye

IPA/ˈaɪ/

Eye

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