sheep's eye
sheep's eye noun: a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance.
Noun
sheep's eye (plural sheep's eyes)
- A secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance.
- those of an amorous roguish look derive their title even from the sheep, and we say such a one has a sheep's eye, not so much to denote the innocence as the simple slyness of the cast.1864, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 250
- He had ever a sheep's eye for thee, and, if I remember rightly, thou wast sweet upon him once.1875, Anthony Trollope, Never, never, -- Never, never: A Condensed Novel in Three Parts, after the Manner of Bret Harte
- Synonyms:
- cow eyes
Synonyms of sheep's eye
Forms of sheep's eye
| plural | sheep's eyes |
|---|
Origin of sheep's eye
From genitive of sheep + eye.
Questions about sheep's eye
- What does sheep's eye mean?
- Sheep's eye means a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance.
- What part of speech is sheep's eye?
- Sheep's eye is a noun.
- What is the plural of sheep's eye?
- The plural of sheep's eye is sheep's eyes.
Words near sheep's eye in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sheep's eye (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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