give one's eye-teeth
give one's eye-teeth verb: to sacrifice something valuable.
Verb
give one's eye-teeth (third-person singular simple present gives one's eye-teeth, present participle giving one's eye-teeth, simple past gave one's eye-teeth, past participle given one's eye-teeth)
- To sacrifice something valuable.
- Your real sea-dog will give his eye-teeth for a glass of grog; it is a fact, that many a tooth has been drawn in exchange for rum.1836, James B. Dow, The Way-Mark, Chapter VI, The end of the Drunkard, page 133
- Sandy Flash burst into a roaring laugh. “Him! Ah-ha! you think we go snacks, eh? Do I look like a fool? Barton'd give his eye-teeth to put the halter round my neck with his own hands! No, no, young man; I have ways and ways o' learnin' things that you nor him'll never guess.”1866, Bayard Taylor, The Story of Kennett, Chapter XXVI, The Last of Sandy Flash, page 311
- Synonyms:
- give one's left nut, give one's right arm
Synonyms of give one's eye-teeth
Forms of give one's eye-teeth
| third-person singular present | gives one's eye-teeth |
|---|---|
| present participle | giving one's eye-teeth |
| past | gave one's eye-teeth |
| past participle | given one's eye-teeth |
| alternative form | give an eye-tooth |
Questions about give one's eye-teeth
- What does give one's eye-teeth mean?
- Give one's eye-teeth means to sacrifice something valuable.
- What part of speech is give one's eye-teeth?
- Give one's eye-teeth is a verb.
- What is the past tense of give one's eye-teeth?
- The past tense of give one's eye-teeth is gave one's eye-teeth.
Words near give one's eye-teeth in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: give one's eye-teeth (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “give one's eye-teeth.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/give_one%27s_eye-teeth. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.