Word.ws English Dictionary

keep one's eyes peeled

keep one's eyes peeled verb: to be on the alert, to be watchful.

Verb

keep one's eyes peeled (third-person singular simple present keeps one's eyes peeled, present participle keeping one's eyes peeled, simple past and past participle kept one's eyes peeled)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To be on the alert, to be watchful.
    • And directly below is our Mesozoic jungle river -- where, if you are lucky, you just may catch a glimpse of a very rare carnivore. Keep your eyes peeled, everyone!1990, Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park
    • lookouts posted to the port and starboard bows keep their eyes peeled for the ghostly outline of approaching traffic.2003 November 14, Laura Bly, “Sailing into the past”, in USA Today

Synonyms of keep one's eyes peeled

Forms of keep one's eyes peeled

third-person singular presentkeeps one's eyes peeled
present participlekeeping one's eyes peeled
past participlekept one's eyes peeled
pastkept one's eyes peeled

Origin of keep one's eyes peeled

US, 19th century. Peeled probably refers to keeping one's eyelids retracted.

Questions about keep one's eyes peeled

What does keep one's eyes peeled mean?
Keep one's eyes peeled means to be on the alert, to be watchful.
What part of speech is keep one's eyes peeled?
Keep one's eyes peeled is a verb.
What is the past tense of keep one's eyes peeled?
The past tense of keep one's eyes peeled is kept one's eyes peeled.

Words near keep one's eyes peeled in the dictionary

  1. keep one's eye in
  2. keep one's eye on the ball
  3. keep one's eyeballs peeled
  4. keep one's eyes on the ball
  5. keep one's eyes open
  6. keep one's eyes peeled
  7. keep one's eyes skinned
  8. keep one's fingers crossed
  9. keep one's guard up
  10. keep one's hair on
  11. keep one's hand in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: keep one's eyes peeled (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-keep one's eyes peeled.ogg.

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