Eye sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary

Eye sb.1. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1897, rev. 2025. Eye sb.1 Forms: 1 éaʓe, éʓe, (éʓo, éʓu, ǽʓe), 2–4 eȝe, 2–3 eȝhe, 2–5 eiȝe (3 ehe), 3–5 eghe, 3–7 eie, 4 egȝe, ei, hei(e, he (north.), 4–5 eyȝe, eyghe, eighe, yȝe, iȝe, 4–7 ey, 5 egh, yghe, ighe, eyhe, ehe, yhe, ye, ie, (hyghe, hye, iey, ȝee, hee, iȝee, ieae), 5–6 e (north.), (eae, iee), 5– north. (and 9 Poet.) ee, 6 iye, yie (yey, ye, yae, eey, i,) 4– eye. Pl. α. 1 éaʓan, ǽʓan (north. éʓo, éʓu), 1–2 éʓan, 2 enȝen, 2–4 eȝen, 2–5 eiȝen, 3 eihen, æȝen, ehȝen, 3–5 eghen, eien, 3–5 (7 arch.) eyn, 4 eyiȝen, eiȝyen, ȝeȝen, hegehen, eye, 4–5 eyȝen, yȝen, eyghen, eighen, iȝen, yen(e, ein, 4–6 (9 arch.) eyen, 4–7 (9 arch.) eyne, 5 ighen, yeghen, yhen (eene, eyon, ygne), 5– north. and Sc. een, 6 iyen, ien, yien, (ain) Sc. ene, (6–7 eine, 7 aine, 8–9 Sc. e’en). β. 3 eȝenen, eȝene, eȝhne, 3–5 ehnen, ehne, 4 egghnen, iȝene, ine, ewine, eiine, 5 eghene, enyn (hynon, enghne). γ. 4 eiȝes, 5 yȝes, 6 iyes, yes, ies, yees, ayes, ees, 6–7 eies, (7 eys) 6– eyes. Also with prosthetic n, 5 neghe, ney, 4–6 nie, nye, Pl. 5 nyen, -on, -non. [OE. éage, wk. neut., corresponding to OFris. âge, OS. ôga (MDu. ôghe, Du. oog), OHG. ouga (MHG. ouge, Ger. auge), ON. auga (Da. öie, Sw. öga), Goth. augo:—OTeut. *augon-.

1   By most scholars referred to the OAryan root *oq- to see, to which belong the synonymous words in all the other branches of the Aryan family exc. Celtic; but the anomalous representation of OAryan o by au instead of a presents difficulties; for various hypotheses intended to account for it see Brugmann Grundriss I. 333, Kluge Etym. Wb. (ed. 5), s.v., Fick Vergl. Wb. (ed. 4), I. 371. Otherwise, no plausible affinities have been found for the Teutonic word.]

2   The original plural was in -an, in ME. -en, whence north. dial. een, and archaic eyne. In some forms of ME. a second inflexional -en (reducible to -e) was added, making eȝenen, eȝene, whence in 15th c. enyn. Our first instance of the modern -s plural is a. 1375 eiȝes.

3   I.  1. The organ of sight.

4   a.  in man and vertebrate animals.

5 a. 700.  Epinal Gloss., 1093. Vitiato oculo: unþyotoʓi eʓan [a. 800 Erfurt Gloss. undyctʓi æʓan].

6 c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter xciii. 9. Se ðe hiowede eʓe ne scewað.

7 c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xi. 34. Gif eʓo ðin bið milde.

8 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. v. 29. Gyf þin swyðre eaʓe þe æswicie ahola hit ut.

9 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 23. Þes monnes eȝan, and his fet, and his hondan.

10 c. 1200.  Ormin, 9393. Ȝif þatt tin eȝhe iss all unnhal.

11 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 9361 (Cott.). Als douues eie hir lok es suete.

12 c. 1300.  K. Alis., 1106. His egghnen out of his hed sterte.

13 c. 1340.  Cursor M., 3780 (Fairf.). In slepe a ladder him þoȝt he seyghe fra þe firmament riȝt to his eyghe.

14 c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, Paulus, 557. With fleshy ewine he na se mocht.

15 c. 1380.  Chaucer, Min. Poems, Merciles Beaute, 1. Youre two eyn will sle me sodenly, I may the beaute of them not sustene.

16 c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 1023. Hir nose, hir mouth, and eyhe … Wel wrought.

17 c. 1430.  Bk. Hawking, in Rel. Ant., I. 299. Take a tame heron and drawe out the both eyon of her.

18 1486.  Bk. St. Albans, B jb. The yolow be twene ye Beeke & ye yeghen.

19 1513–75.  Diurn. Occurrents (Bannatyne Club), 179. Ane monstrous fische … havand greit ene in the head thairof.

20 a. 1529.  Skelton, Poems agst. Garnesche, 37. Your ien glyster as glasse, Rowlynge in your holow hede.

21 1586–7.  Q. Eliz., in Four C. Eng. Lett., 31. Paine in one of my yees was only the cause.

22 1605.  Camden, Rem., 124–5. Not of piercing the king of Scots through the eie, as Hector Boetius fableth.

23 1674.  Brevint, Saul at Endor, 116. To set new Eies, and new Tongues, instead of those that were bored out or pulled off.

24 1725.  Watts, Logick, II. v. i. § 7. 395. The Distance at which these Glasses are placed from the Eye.

25 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), IV. 192. The orbits of the eyes were deeper.

26 1797.  Coleridge, Sibyl. Leaves (1817), 233. A little Sun, No bigger than your ee.

27 1831.  Brewster, Optics, xxxv. § 166. 286. The human eye is of a spherical form, with a slight projection in front.

28 1856.  Sir B. Brodie, Psychol. Inq., I. v. 182. The eye of an eagle is nearly as large as that of an elephant.

29 1858.  Kingsley, The Red King, 37, Poems 109. His eyne were shotten, red as blood.

30   b.  Poet. attributed to heaven, the sun, etc. The eye of day, of heaven = the sun; the eyes of heaven, of night = the stars.

31 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 4. Her angels face, As the great eye of heaven, shyned bright.

32 1595.  Shaks., John, III. i. 79. The glorious sunne … Turning with splendor of his precious eye The meager cloddy earth to glittering gold. Ibid. (c. 1600), Sonn., xviii. Sometime too hot the eye of heauen shines. Ibid. (1603), Ham., II. ii. 540. Would haue made milche the Burning eyes of Heauen.

33 1738.  Wesley, Psalms cxlvii. 2. All ye sparkling Eyes of Night.

34 1820.  Scott, Monast., II. 204. So soon as the eye of day hath opened its lids.

35   c.  with adjs. denoting the color of the iris.

36 c. 1300.  Poem, vi. in Retrospective Rev. (1853), I. 397. His hegehen war … grai.

37 c. 1314.  Guy Warw. (Abbotsf. ed.), 7806. He loked on þe wiþ wrake Sternliche wiþ his eyȝen blake.

38 1432–50.  trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 145. That region hath peple with whyte heire, peyntede eien and ȝelowe.

39 1500–20.  Dunbar, None may Assure, x. Ene of amiable blyth asure.

40 1572.  Mascall, Govt. Cattle, Horses (1627), 167. The Fleabitten, with a thinne crest, hauing blacke eyne.

41 1704.  Pope, Windsor For., 351. He turn’d his azure eyes Where Windsor-domes and pompous turrets rise.

42 1815.  Scott, Guy M., xxxii. This young man … was upwards of six feet high, had … blue eyes.

43 a. 1852.  Moore, Fire Worshippers. I never nurs’d a dear gazelle, To glad me with its soft black eye.

44   transf.  1843.  G. P. R. James, Forest Days (1847), 64. The blue eye of heaven had seldom been altogether withdrawn.

45   d.  taken as including the eyelids, or the surrounding parts; the region of the eyes. See BLACK EYE 2.

46 c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., John ix. 6. & ahof ðæt lam ofer eʓu his.

47 c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 108. Wiþ eaʓena sar … ʓenim þysse ylcan wyrte seaw, & smyre ða eaʓan þærmid.

48 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 121. Summe þer weren þet his eȝan bunden.

49 a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 426. He wolde þat he iseȝe Teres in evrich monnes eȝe.

50 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, I. 547. Hys Eyn with his hand closit he.

51 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 10. Smale fowles maken melodie, That slepen al the night with open yhe.

52 1486.  Bk. St. Albans, B ij a. An hauke that is broght vp vnder a Bussard … hath wateri Eyghen.

53 a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, xlvii. 157. The pyrates … bounde his handes … and iyen.

54 1675.  Hobbes, Odyssey, XVI. 11. Kisses his head and hands, and both his eyne.

55 1751.  Smollett, Per. Pic., II. lxxvi. 306. These gummy eyes, lantern jaws, and toothless chaps.

56 1840.  E. Howard, Jack Ashore, III. ix. 178. That kindly looking gentleman, that’s blushing up to the eyes.

57   e.  in invertebrate animals. Compound eye: see quot. and COMPOUND a. 2 d.

58 1665.  Hooke, Micrographia, 178. Each of these Pearls or Hemispheres is a perfect eye.

59 1700.  T. Brown, trans. Fresny’s Amusem. Ser. & Com., 87. Their Collections of Rarities exceeds that of John Tradusken, for here are … the Eyes of Oysters.

60 1841–71.  T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 353. The individual eyes, or ocelli, as we shall term them.

61 1878.  M‘Kendrick, in Encycl. Brit., VIII. 816/1. The compound eye … consists essentially of a series of transparent cone-like bodies, arranged in a radiate manner against the inner surface of the cornea. Ibid. The eyes of many insects have a field of about half a sphere. Ibid. (1881), XIII. 143/2. In the larval state the eyes [of insects] are ordinarily simple, and each eye is usually a congregation of separate eye-spots.

62   2.  Phrases. (For those relating to the function of the eyes, etc., see 3–6). a. Mind († beware) your eye (now vulgar): look to the safety of your eye; fig. be careful. One might put a thing in one’s eye (and see never the worse): indicating the insignificance or non-existence of the thing. For, by reason of the fair eyes of: for the sake of; cf. Fr. pour les beaux yeux de.

63 1509.  Payne, Evyll Marr., 146. As moche as a man may put in his eye.

64 1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 34. I might put my winnyng in mine eye, And see neuer the woorse.

65 a. 1572.  Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 119. I shall lodge all the men-of-ware into my Eae, that shall land in Scotland.

66 1579.  Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 222/1. They rule not by reason of their faire eyes.

67 1583.  Golding, Calvin on Deut., clxxxiv. 1145. It is not for their faire eyes (as they say).

68 a. 1663.  Robin Hood, xxxi. in Child, Ballads (1888), III. V. cxlv. 201/2. The ladies gave a shout, ‘Woodcock, beware thyn ee!’

69 a. 1700.  B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, All that you get you may put in your Eye and see ne’er the worse.

70 1851.  Mayhew, Lond. Labour (1861), II. 224. You must mind your eye, if you are shovelling slop into a cart.

71   b.  Biblical allusions. A beam, a mote in one’s eye (Matt. vii. 3). Eye for eye (Exod. xxi. 24).

72 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6701 (Cott.). Ei for ei, and toth for toht.

73 1570.  G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 5. To pluck out the beame out of his own i.

74   c.  Colloq. To pipe the eye, to put the finger in the eye: derisively used for to weep. To cry one’s eyes out: to weep excessively.

75 1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., II. ii. 206. No longer will I be a foole, To put the finger in the eie and weepe.

76 c. 1626.  Dick of Devon, III. iv. in Bullen, O. Pl. (1883), II. 58. Would one have thought the foolish ape would putt The finger in the eye and tell it daddy!

77 1655.  Fuller, Ch. Hist., I. v. § 22. 36. So blubber’d with Teares, that she may seem almost to have wept her Eyes out.

78 1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., 27. I can’t help it, if I would cry my Eyes out.

79 1883.  Stevenson, Treasure Isl., IV. xix. The smoke … kept us coughing and piping the eye.

80 Mod. ditty: Cry, baby, cry; put your finger in your eye.

81   d.  Colloq. or slang. Referring to drinking or drunkenness.

82 1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., V. i. 205. O he’s drunke … his eyes were set at eight i’th morning. Ibid. (1610), Temp., III. ii. 10. Drinke seruant Monster … thy eies are almost set in thy head.

83 1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., 15. You must own you had a Drop in your Eye … you were half Seas over.

84 1789.  Burns, O Willie brewed a peck o’ maut. We’re nae that fou, But just a drappie in our e’e.

85 1840.  Barham, Ingol. Leg., Bagman’s Dog, xix. She ask’d him to ‘wet t’other eye.’

86   e.  Up to the eyes: fig. deeply immersed or occupied. (Mortgaged) up to the eyes: to the utmost limit.

87 1884.  Reade, Gd. Stories, Born to Gd. Luck. A neighbour’s estate, mortgaged up to the eyes, was sold under the hammer.

88 1889.  Gordon Stables, in Boy’s Own Paper, 16 Nov., 103/3. The stewards were up to their eyes packing baskets and making preparations.

89   f.  To (make a person) open (his) eyes: to (make him) stare with astonishment. To close an eye (negatively), To † lay, put one’s eyes together: to go to sleep. † My eyes draws straws (vulgar): I am sleepy.

90 1633.  T. James, Voy., 36. Not one of them put his eyes together all the night long.

91 1707.  J. Stevens, trans. Quevedo’s Com. Wks. (1709), 350. He could not lay his Eyes together.

92 1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., 214. I’m sure ’tis time for honest Folks to be a-bed—Indeed my Eyes draws straws.

93 1814.  D. H. O’Brien, Captiv. & Escape, 132. I never closed an eye. The night at length elapsed.

94 1889.  Jessopp, Coming of Friars, ii. 72. The new fashions made his neighbours open their eyes.

95   g.  Sporting. To wipe the eye of another shooter: to kill game that he has missed.

96 1886.  Walsingham & Payne-Gallwey, Shooting, I. 128. If you do perchance wipe the eye … of another shooter … apologize.

97   h.  Slang or vulgar. All my eye: all humbug, ‘stuff and nonsense’; also, in same sense, † All in the eye. My eye(s! used as an expression of astonishment or asseveration.

98 1768.  Goldsm., Good-n. Man, II. That’s all my eye—the king only can pardon.

99 1782.  Eliz. Blower, George Bateman, II. 113. That’s all my eye, and my elbow, as the saying is.

100 1785.  Grose, Class. Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Betty Martin, that’s my eye betty martin.

101 1819.  Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. Congress, 2. All my eye, Betty.

102 1824.  Miss Ferrier, Inher., I. xxxi. 344. [A bride] sobbed aloud … although, as Bob and Davy afterwards declared, that was all in the eye.

103 1810.  J. Poole, Hamlet Travestie, I. i. 2.        But I have that within, you can’t take from me— As for black clothes,—that’s all my eye and Tommy.

104 1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, viii. ‘My eyes, how green!’ exclaimed the young gentleman.

105 1842.  S. Lover, Handy Andy, xvi. Church, my eye, woman! church indeed.

106 1842.  Hood, Spring, xi. The tenderness of Spring is all my eye.

107 1871.  Punch, 30 Dec., 271/1. ‘Nothing in the papers!’ Isn’t there, though. My eye!

108   3.  With reference to its function: The eye as possessing the power of vision. Often pleonastically for emphasis in To see with one’s own eyes, † with (or at) eye.

109   In Eng. as in other langs. to lose an eye often means merely to become blind of one eye; similarly to put out the eyes = to deprive of sight.

110 c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 53/215. Huy i-seien alle with eiȝe.

111 1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 376. Me ssolde pulte oute boþe hys eye, & make hym pur blynd.

112 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 11324 (Cott.). Symeon … he o ded suld neuer die, Till he suld se crist self wit ei.

113 c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 100. Men mosten more thyng beleve Then they may seen at eighe.

114 c. 1450.  Bk. Curtasye, 323, in Babees Bk. (1868), 308. Gase not on walles with þy neghe.

115 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, III. x. 12. All his solace for tinsale of his E.

116 1539.  Taverner, Erasm. Prov. (1552), 13. That the eye seeth not, ye herte rueth not.

117 1584.  Powel, Lloyd’s Cambria, 31. Let them belieue no more but what they see with their Eies.

118 1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxv. 136. Many eyes see more then one.

119 1707.  J. Stevens, trans. Quevedo’s Com. Wks. (1709), 350. I have seen it with my own Eyes.

120 1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., 199. They say, Hedges have Eyes, and Walls have Ears.

121 1776.  Trial of Nundocomar, 24/2. I have seen him … with my own eyes take off his seal.

122 1820.  Keats, St. Agnes, xxxix. There are no ears to hear or eyes to see.

123 1846.  Greener, Sc. Gunnery, 300. We … have a friend who lost an eye and blew down a house side.

124 1871.  Rossetti, Poems, Dante at Verona, xxxiii. Thou hast beheld, past sight of eyne.

125 1878.  M‘Kendrick, in Encycl. Brit., VIII. 822/2. If we wish to see each word distinctly, we ‘run the eye’ along the line.

126   b.  Phrases. (To have but) half an eye: even the smallest power of vision. (To see) with half an eye: at a glance, without effort. † At the eye’s end: close at hand. To open any one’s eyes: to restore his sight. † To put out one’s eyes with gifts: fig. to bribe. Where are your eyes? said to a person who fails to observe what he ought to see. With all one’s eyes, with all the eyes in one’s head: with eager gaze. Eagle eye: see EAGLE 10. The naked eye: see NAKED.

127 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 94. He [Jesus] openede my yȝen.

128 a. 1547.  Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark, Pref. 4. Ought with all the iyen in theyr heades to watche.

129 1579.  Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 348. But euery man that hath but halfe an eye, seeth these grosse inconsequences.

130 1598.  Pelegromius, Synonym. Sylva, 35/2. To Bribe; vide to put out ones eyes with giftes.

131 1598.  W. Phillips, Linschoten (1864), 190. These Haraffos … can discerne it [counterfeit money] with half an eye.

132 1611.  Bible, Ps. cxlvi. 8. The Lord openeth the eyes of the blinde.

133 1627–77.  Feltham, Resolves, I. x. 15. We judg them near, at the eyes end.

134 1743.  Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 10. The Captain … seeing the Light, ask’d the Master, Where his Eyes were?

135 1860.  Russell, Diary India, II. xiii. I looked with all my eyes, but they failed to detect any difference.

136 1883.  Stevenson, Treasure Isl., IV. xviii. I saw with half an eye that all was over.

137   c.  fig.; esp. as attributed to the heart, mind, or to quasi-personified objects.

138 c. 1040.  Rule St. Benet (Logeman), 2. Geopenedum eaʓum urum.

139 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 157. [He] mid þe eȝene of his hoste bihalt in to houene and sicð þe muchele blisse þet he is to ilected.

140 c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 3. Opene to understonde þe ehne of þin heorte.

141 1460.  in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 187. Mi goostli iȝen ben ful of dust.

142 1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 435. Sleepe … sometime shuts vp sorrowes eie.

143 1687.  T. Brown, Saints in Uproar, Wks. 1730, I. 82. This it is to want the eye of faith.

144 a. 1703.  Burkitt, On N. T., Mark vi. 6 (1739), 104/2. None but a spiritual Eye can discern Beauty in an humbled and abased Saviour.

145 1837.  Newman, Par. Serm. (ed. 2), III. xxiii. 372. Excitement, which has power to fascinate the eye of our minds.

146 1851.  Sir J. Herschel, Stud. Nat. Phil., II. vi. 166. To witness facts with the eyes of reason.

147 1856.  Grindon, Life, i. (1875), 5. Science needs all its eyes … to discern it.

148   d.  Applied to a person who uses his eyes on behalf, or instead, of another.

149 1382.  Wyclif, Job xxix. 15. An eȝe I was to blinde.

150 1588.  A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., 173. I haue bene ane Ee to ye blind.

151 1667.  Milton, P. L., III. 650. The seav’n Who … are his Eyes That … Bear his swift errands.

152 1689.  Hickeringill, Ceremony-Monger, Wks. (1716), II. 503. The Bishop’s great Eye (Mr. Arch-deacon) is getting himself a Stomach to his Dinner.

153 1806.  Wordsw., Ode Intim. Immort., 112. Thou best Philosopher … thou Eye among the blind.

154 1836–48.  B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., 17, note. The Kings of Persia had certain officers who were called ‘his Eyes.’

155   e.  fig. Applied to a city, country, province, etc.: The seat of intelligence or light.

156 1599.  Hakluyt, Voy., II. 118. The eyes of the realme, Cambridge, and Oxford.

157 1671.  Milton, P. R., IV. 240. Athens, the eye of Greece.

158 1680.  Morden, Geog. Rect., England (1688), 25. In the beautiful Body of the Kingdom of England, the two Eyes are the two Universities.

159 1845.  R. W. Hamilton, Pop. Educ., vii. (ed. 2), 165. Massachusetts … is the eye of the States.

160 1878.  Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 355. The destruction of Corinth the eye of Greece.

161   4.  Used in sing. and pl. for: The action or function of the eyes; the sense of seeing; ‘ocular knowledge’ (J.), sight. Chiefly in phrases: (To have) before one’s eyes: lit. and fig. To believe one’s (own) eyes. To catch, † fix, strike, take the eye. † At (first) eye: at first sight.

162 a. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 49. He litlede him seluen to-foren mannes eiȝen.

163 c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 59. Þat for a tym desceyuiþ & iapiþ þe ȝee, but þis biggiþ þe vnderstonding perpetual.

164 1440.  Test. Ebor. (Surtees), II. 76. Þai, havand Gode before þer eyghen, do trewe execution of þis my presentt testament.

165 1471.  Arriv. Edw. IV. (Camden), 33. It appered to every mann at eye the sayde partie was extincte.

166 1509.  Fisher, Wks., I. (1876), 68. Al thynges be naked and open to his [God’s] eyen.

167 a. 1541.  Wyatt, Poet. Wks. (1861), 22. With false favour … you deceive th’ayes.

168 1587.  Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1986/1. The English capteines … perceiuing at eie that … they were not able to anie aduantage to mainteine this onset.

169 1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, IV. i. 72. Is this face Heroes? are our eies our owne? Ibid. (1605), Macb., III. i. 125. Masking the Businesse from the common Eye.

170 1653.  Marvell, Corr., i. Wks. 1872–5, II. 4. Demonstrating to the ey which way we ought to travell.

171 1672.  Sir T. Browne, Lett. to Friend, x. (1881), 134. A weak physiognomist might say at first eye, This was a Face of Earth.

172 1715.  J. Richardson, Th. Painting, 61–2. The Death of Ananias … immediately takes the Eye.

173 1717.  Pope, Ep. Jervas, 33. Thy well-study’d marbles fix our eye.

174 1784.  Cowper, Task, II. 818. Every plague that can infest Society … meets the eye.

175 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 207. The conflict in the royal mind did not escape the eye of Barillon.

176 1866.  J. Conington, trans. Æneid, VI. 201. Banquets smile before their eyne.

177   † b.  In (the) eye: in appearance. By the eye: ? in unlimited quantity. Obs.

178 c. 1394.  P. Pl. Crede, 84. Grete-hedede quenes wiþ gold by þe eiȝen.

179 c. 1592.  Marlowe, Jew of Malta, III. iv. Thou shalt have broth by the eye.

180 1611.  Beaum. & Fl., Knt. Burning Pestle, II. ii. (1613), D 2. Here’s mony and gold bi’th eie my boy.

181 1684.  R. H., School Recreat., 117. Mark out the Head of your Pond, and make it the highest part of the ground in the Eye, tho it be the lowest in the true Level.

182   † c.  Range of vision, view, sight. Only in phrases: In eye; in, into, out of (a person’s) eye. Obs. in lit. sense.

183 1599.  Warn. Faire Wom., II. 770. A very bloudy act … committed in eye of court.

184 1602.  Shaks., Ham., IV. iv. 6. We shall expresse our dutie in his eye.

185 1644.  Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), 125. He fights in the eye of his Prince.

186 1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., V. ii. 146. Ill manag’d Persecutions of Doctrine … bring them into every body’s Eye.

187 1670.  Cotton, Espernon, I. II. 82. He was no sooner remov’d out of his Eye, than that Confidence began to stagger.

188 1673.  Charles II., in Lauderdale Papers (1885), III. ii. 2. Your sone Yester (who comes but seldome in my eye).

189 1677.  Yarranton, Eng. Improv., 38. A Harbour … in the very Eye of France.

190 1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 113, ¶ 4. She helped me to some Tansy in the Eye of all the Gentlemen in the Country.

191   d.  fig. In one’s (mind’s) eye: in one’s mental view, in contemplation.

192 1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. ii. 185. I see my father … In my minds eye.

193 c. 1680.  Beveridge, Serm. (1729), I. 411. He must always have it in his eye.

194 1713.  Berkeley, Ess. in Guardian, vi. Wks. 1871, III. 163. The sages whom I have in my eye speak of virtue as the most amiable thing in the world.

195 1726.  Leoni, trans. Alberti’s Archit., II. 55 b. Some had nothing in their eye, but adorning that which was to contain the body.

196 1791.  ‘G. Gambado,’ Ann. Horsem., Pref. (1809), 54. Having the safety of man’s neck in my eye.

197 1818.  Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 414. I have … the little thatched cottages of Waltham Chase … in my mind’s eye.

198   5.  With reference to the direction of the eye; hence often equivalent to: Look, glance, gaze. Often with verbs like cast, lift, turn, etc. † To change, mingle eyes (with): to exchange amorous glances (with). To make eyes at; to throw the eye at: to throw amorous or covetous glances at. † To throw out one’s eyes for: To look out for. To see eye to eye (Isa. lii. 8): often misused for to be of one mind, think alike.

199 c. 975.  Rushw. Gosp., Matt. xvii. 8. Ða hiʓ hyra eaʓan upphofon, ne ʓesawon hiʓ nænne.

200 a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 54. Eue, þi moder, leop efter hire eien; urom hire eien to þe eppel, vrom þe eppel i parais adun to þes eorðe.

201 c. 1320.  R. Brunne, Medit., 643. To hyr fadyr he kast hys yen.

202 c. 1485.  Digby Myst. (1882), II. 572. The Iey ys euer the messenger of foly.

203 1535.  Coverdale, Ecclus. xxvii. 1. He that seketh to be riche turneth his eyes asyde.

204 1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. iii. 143. On my face he turn’d an eye of death. Ibid. (1604), Oth., II. i. 39. As well to see the Vessell that’s come in As to throw-out our eyes for braue Othello. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., III. xiii. 156. Would you mingle eyes With one that tyes his points. Ibid. (1610), Temp., I. ii. 441. At the first sight They haue chang’d eyes.

205 1781.  Cowper, Conversation, 485. Modestly let fall your eyes.

206 1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., III. xv. Each … curs’d me with his ee.

207 1842.  S. Lover, Handy Andy, viii. Is it one of my colleens you’ve been throwing the eye at, Sir?

208 1852.  Thackeray, Esmond, III. i. She used to make eyes at the Duke of Marlborough.

209 1879.  Print. Trades Jrnl., XXVI. 4. Unable to see eye to eye with the subscribers.

210   b.  In words of command. Mil. (see quots.); so in Boating, Eyes in the Boat.

211 1832.  Prop. Regul. Instr. Cavalry, II. 35. Its Leader gives the word ‘Eyes Centre.’

212 1833.  Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. 13. On the word Eyes Right, glance the eyes to the right with the slightest turn possible of the head. At the word Eyes Left, cast the eyes in like manner to the left. On the word Eyes Front, the look and head are to be directly to the front, the habitual position of the soldier.

213 1837.  Dickens, Pickw., iv. The command ‘eyes front’ had been given.

214 1859.  F. A. Griffiths, Artil. Man. (1862), 152. Captains will give the word ‘Eyes right,’ or ‘left,’ as the inspecting officer comes to their batteries, ‘Eyes front’ when he has passed.

215 1887.  Times, 14 Nov., 6/3. The words of command were … ‘Eyes front; by your right; quick march.’

216   c.  with adjs. expressing the disposition or feeling of the person looking, as, angry, contemptuous, friendly, jealous, loving, wondering.

217 a. 1300.  Cursor M. (4078), Cott. Ne wald þai apon him sei Fra þis dai forth wit blithful ei. Ibid., 17837 (Cott.). Til heuen þai lifted þair eien brade.

218 c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 4264. If oon be fulle of vylanye, Another hath a likerous ighe.

219 1556.  Aurelio & Isab. (1608), E iv. Chaste and shamefaste ees.

220 1611.  Bible, Prov. xxii. 9. Hee that hath a bountifull eye, shall bee blessed: for hee giueth of his bread to the poore.

221 1735.  Pope, Prol. Sat., 199. View him with … jealous eyes.

222 1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 161. Ropedancing, puppetshows, bowls, horseracing, were regarded with no friendly eye.

223   6.  An attentive or observing look, lit. and fig.; observation, supervision; attention, regard. Chiefly in phrases: (To be) all eyes: all attention. † To bear, give, good eyes upon: to pay close attention to, watch attentively. To give an eye to: to give a share of one’s attention to. To keep, have an (one’s) eye † after, upon: to keep watch upon. Under the eye of: under the observation or attention of.

224 c. 1430.  Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 3934. Segryne had euer on him his eye.

225 c. 1460.  J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 527. Looke ye bere good yȝes vppon oþur connynge kervers.

226 c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 695. I mon … eirnestly efter him haue myne E ay.

227 1586.  J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 26/2. Maurice Fitzgerald … gaue good eie and watched the matter verie narowlie.

228 1610.  Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 59. No tongue: all eyes: be silent.

229 1641.  Milton, Animadv., Wks. (1851), 219. He … hath yet ever had this Island under the special indulgent eye of his Providence.

230 1659.  B. Harris, Parival’s Iron Age, 211. It was supposed the Earle of Essex had an eie upon Oxford.

231 1818.  Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 64. I shall keep my eye upon them.

232 1824.  Medwin, Convers. Byron (1832), I. 53. I had … fallen under the eye of the Government.

233   b.  To have an eye to: to look to, pay attention to; to have as one’s object, have regard for; to have reference to. With an eye to: with a view to; with a design upon.

234 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, VI. 523. The Kyng … Till thame, and nouthir ellis-quhar Had ey. Ibid., XII. 306. I pray ȝhow That nane of ȝow for gredynes Haf E till tak of thair Richess.

235 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 73 b. Some feareth synne & payne bothe, hauynge an eye and respecte to bothe in maner indifferently.

236 1535.  Coverdale, 2 Macc. viii. 2. They called vpon the Lorde, yt he wolde haue an eye vnto his people.

237 1593.  Nashe, Four Lett. Confut., 67. Haue an eie to the maine-chaunce.

238 1607.  Bacon, Ess., Counsel (Arb.), 322. Men will Councell with an eye to themselves.

239 1641.  Jrnl. Ho. Comm., II. 183. An especial eye may be had over all Counties, where Papists are most residing.

240 1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 210. Have still an Eye to the weeding and cleansing Part.

241 1713.  Steele, Englishman, No. 11. 74. A Man will have an Eye to his first Appearance in Publick.

242 1756.  C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, III. 285. The gentlemen of the corporation … have … no small eye to gain.

243 1838.  Lytton, Alice, 171. Maltravers has an eye to the county, one of these days.

244 1861.  Thornbury, Turner, I. 358. He collects analytical diagrams of Dutch boats, with an eye to get nearer to Vandervelde.

245 1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 58. What I said about the Cretan laws … had an eye to war only.

246 1888.  Froude, Eng. in W. Indies, 40. Gold and silver plate, he observed with an eye to business was … abundant.

247   7.  (in sing. only). The faculty of perception or discrimination of visual objects, either in general or in some special connection. Often in phrases: To have, with, the eye of (a painter, etc.). To have an eye for (proportion, etc.). (To estimate, etc.) by (the) eye: as opposed to measurement, etc. Also, Sport: To have, get, one’s eye (well) in: to be or become able to judge accurately of distance and direction, as in Billiards, Shooting, etc.

248 1657.  Austen, Fruit Trees, II. 93. Shew clearly (to a discerning eie).

249 1715.  J. Richardson, Th. Painting, 150. He has a Good Eye in the Sense, as one is said to have a Good Ear for Musick. Ibid. (1719), Art Crit., 188. It does not appear to have been done by any other help than the Correctness of the Eye.

250 1774.  M. Mackenzie, Maritime Surv., 88. Estimate by the Eye the Distance of C from A.

251 1796.  Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813), 67. The leader of the column will march by his eye.

252 1847.  L. Hunt, Jar of Honey, Pref. (1848), p. ix. Who saw their colours with the eye of a painter.

253 1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 433. He had not, it may be, the eye of a great captain for all the turns of a battle.

254 1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), II. 271. An eye for proportion is needed.

255 1884.  Q. Rev., No. 316. 482. Their eyes were well in.

256   8.  fig. Point of view, manner or way of looking at a thing; estimation, opinion, judgment. In phrases: In, with the eye(s of (a person). In the public eye. Also, In the eye of (the) law, logic, etc.: according to the terms or rules of. To look with another eye upon: to take a different view of.

257 a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter, Prol. Faire & lufly in cristes eghen.

258 1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., III. vii. 112. Some offence, That seemes disgracious in the Cities eye.

259 a. 1617.  P. Bayne, On Eph. (1658), 48. God doth give us love in the eies of some good man.

260 1628.  Coke, On Litt., fol. 58. Court baron … in the eye of Law it hath relation to the Freeholders, who are Judges of the Court.

261 1635.  A. Stafford, Fem. Glory (1869), 56. Sinnes more odious even in our own eies.

262 1643.  Udall, Serm. (1645), 37. To his sad disconsolate wife, mourning too too much, in his eye [etc.].

263 1659.  B. Harris, Parival’s Iron Age, 206. The King … became more considerable in the eyes of the World, then any of his predecessors.

264 1683.  Lond. Gaz., No. 1835/3. If the City should Look upon it with another Eye.

265 1742.  Pope, Dunc., IV. 534. Self-conceit to some her glass applies, Which no one looks in with another’s eyes.

266 1761.  Hume, Hist. Eng., II. xxxvi. 286. Persons not lying under … attainder were innocent in the eye of the law.

267 1766.  Goldsm., Vic. W., xxviii. No other marriage of his shall ever be legal in my eye.

268 1818.  Byron, Juan, I. lxviii. I can’t tell whether Julia saw the affair With other people’s eyes, or if her own Discoveries made.

269 1869.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), III. xiii. 281. In the eye of logic or of sound morals.

270 1882.  Serjt. Ballantine, Experiences, xix. 185. He was a man of mark in the eyes of my family.

271   † II.  9. Slight shade, tinge. (Cf. F. œil). Obs.

272 1610.  Shaks., Temp., II. i. 55. Ant. The ground indeed is tawny. Seb. With an eye of greene in’t.

273 a. 1642.  Suckling, Goblins, III. (ed. 2), 25. None of these Beards will serve, There’s not an eye of white in them.

274 a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 499. This … name seemeth to have in it an eye or cast of Greek and Latin.

275 1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 204. A natural Earth, with an Eye of Loam in it.

276 1677.  Plot, Oxfordsh., 279. A true blue dye, having an eye of red.

277 1699.  Evelyn, Acetaria, 97–8. Oyl … with an Eye … of a pallid Olive green.

278   b.  (See quot.)

279 1736.  Bailey (folio), Eye, the lustre and brilliant of pearls and precious stones, more usually call’d the water.

280   III.  An object resembling the eye in appearance, shape, or relative position.

281   10.  On plants: a. the axillary bud; the leaf-bud of a potato; b. the remains of the calyx on fruit; c. the center of a flower.

282 1615.  W. Lawson, Orch. & Gard., III. x. (1668), 26. Let your graff have three or four eyes for readiness to put forth.

283 1672–3.  Grew, Anat. Plants, II. I. i. § 7 (1682), 58. Potato’s [root], where the Eyes or Buds of the future Trunks lie inward.

284 1710.  London & Wise, Compl. Gard. (1719), 167. Apples … may be plac’d either upon the Eye or Stalk.

285 1772.  Foote, Nabob, II. Wks. 1799, II. 303. For pip, colour, and eye, I defy the whole parish … to match ’em [polyanthuses].

286 1787.  Winter, Syst. Husb., 157. Six scotch potatoes, cut into thirty-three sets, with two eyes each.

287 1858.  Carpenter, Veg. Phys., § 121. The points commonly known as the eyes of the Potato. Ibid., § 586. By the remains of the calyx … the eye of the gooseberry is formed. Ibid., § 605. The smaller the eye … of the dahlia, the better it is considered to be.

288 1870.  Hooker, Stud. Flora, 268. Corolla minute, pale blue with a white eye.

289 1882.  Garden, 18 March, 183/2. Vine eyes from Spain … make better and stronger Vines than those propagated from eyes produced in this country.

290   11.  Eye of a crab, a crawfish = CRAB’S EYE.

291 1661.  Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 190. The eyes or stones [of the crab], coole, dry, cleanse, discusse, breake the stone.

292 1753.  Hanway, Trav., I. I. xv. 98. These eyes [of crawfish] are sent into turkey … to be used in medicines.

293   12.  A spot resembling an eye; esp. a. One of the spots near the end of the tail-feathers of a peacock. b. One of the three spots at one end of a coco-nut. c. A small dark spot in the eggs of fish and insects while hatching.

294 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 7. A litel stone wiþ yene. Ibid. (1393), Barth. De P. R., XII. xxxii. (1495), 432. The pecok hath … a taylle full of eyen.

295 1556.  Aurelio & Isab. (1608), G ij. Delectabler … then seamethe vnto the pecocke his tale chargede with ees.

296 1601.  Holland, Pliny, I. 396. They make a shew of the eyes appearing in Peacockes tailes.

297 1622.  Peacham, Compl. Gentl. (1661), 163. A mantle wrought with gold and Peacocks eyes.

298 1736.  Bailey (folio), Eye of a Bean, a black speck … in the cavity of the corner-teeth of a horse.

299 1788.  Cowper, On Mrs. Montague’s Feather Hangings, 4. The Peacock sends his … starry eyes.

300 1840.  Penny Cycl., XL. 334/1. In this last [variety] the eyes or circlets of the train [of the peacock] are shadowed out.

301 1863.  F. Buckland, in G. C. Bompas, Life, vii. (1885), 125. No eyes yet in the [trouts’] eggs.

302 1865.  Tylor, Early Hist. Man., vi. 131. The diviner … will spin a cocoa-nut, and decide a question according to where the eye of the nut looks towards when at rest again.

303 1885.  H. O. Forbes, Nat. Wand. E. Archip., ii. 27. Having pierced the proper eye with one of its spindle ambulatory legs, it [the Birgus] rotates the nut round it.

304   † 13.  Eye of the world: = Hydrophane. Obs. [transl. of mod.L. oculus mundi: cf. the Arab. name [Arabic] ‘eye of the sun.’]

305 [1672.  Boyle, Origin Gems, 107. Though the Oculus Mundi be reckoned by Classic Authors among the rare Gems.]

306 1772.  Cronstedt’s Min., App. 6. I have seen the Eye of the World … in Sir Hans Sloane’s Collection.

307   14.  Naut. ‘Eyes of her’ (see quot. 1867).

308 1840.  Marryat, Poor Jack, xxii. Being right in the eyes of her … we could [etc.].

309 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 284. Eyes of her. The foremost part of the bay, or in the bows of a ship. In olden times, and now in Spanish and Italian boats … an eye is painted on each bow.

310 1880.  Times, 25 Dec., 7/4. A heavy forecastle in the eyes of her.

311   15.  † a. A fountain or spring; = Heb. sa·yin, Arab. ssain. b. The opening through which the water wells up. Cf. WELL-EYE.

312 1609.  Bible (Douay), Deut. xxxiii. 23. The eie of Jacob in the land of corne and wine.

313 1842.  Penny Cycl., XXII. 290/2. The place where the river re-appears is called Los Ojos de Guadiana (the eyes of the Guadiana).

314 1857.  Livingstone, Trav., vi. 111. A hollow, which anciently must have been the eye of a fountain.

315 1883.  J. Mackenzie, Day-dawn in Dark Places, 70. There are three separate wells or ‘eyes’ to this fountain.

316   16.  A central mass; the brightest spot or center (of light).

317 1864.  Intell. Observ., V. 371. The net being drawn through a ‘scull’ or shoal of the fish, breaks what is called the eye of the fish.

318 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 284. Eyght, the thickest part of a scule of herrings; when this is scattered by the fishermen, it is termed ‘breaking the ey.’

319 1870.  J. Roskell, in Eng. Mech., 18 March, 647/2. When the button of melted copper … assumes a bright colour, and the centre, which the essayer calls the eye, being dark, the front brick is … drawn aside.

320   17.  Painting (See quot.)

321 1859.  Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 201. ‘Eyes,’ as the abrupt terminations of the longitudinal division of folds are named.

322   18.  Naut. In the wind’s eye: in the direction of the wind. Into the wind’s eye: to windward. To be a sheet in the wind’s eye: fig. to be slightly intoxicated.

323 1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 114. The weathercockis beke is … in the windis eie.

324 1628.  Digby, Jrnl. (Camden), 50. The 4 galliottes … rowed into the windes eye.

325 1743.  Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 135. The Sound … is not above a League in the Wind’s Eye.

326 1823.  Byron, Juan, X. iv. In the wind’s eye I have sail’d.

327 1834.  Medwin, Angler in Wales, II. 145. A better sea-boat … but she could not walk in the wind’s eye.

328 1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxiv. (1856), 179. To see our pack-bound neighbors … steam ahead dead in the wind’s eye.

329 1883.  Stevenson, Treasure Isl., IV. xx. Maybe you think we were all a sheet in the wind’s eye. But I’ll tell you I was sober.

330   19.  The center of revolution. Also in phrase To open its eye.

331 1760–72.  trans. Juan & Ulloa’s Voy. (ed. 3), II. VIII. iii. 210. The cloud … begins, according to the sailor’s phrase, to open its eye, i. e. the cloud breaks, and the part of the horizon where it was formed becomes clear.

332 1867.  F. Francis, Angling, v. 144. The eye of the stream … is always the most favourable spot for fish. By the eye I mean the first good eddy on the inside of any stream after it commences its shoot.

333 1884.  W. M. Davis, in Science, Jan., 63/1. The peculiar and dreadful calm within the whirl, to which sailors have given the name of ‘the eye of the storm.’

334   20.  A hole or aperture.

335   a.  In a needle: The hole or aperture formed to receive the thread.

336 c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xxiii. 25. Ðerh ðyrl or eʓo nedles.

337 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., ibid. Eaðelicor mæʓ se olfend ʓan þurh … nædle eaʓe.

338 1382.  Wyclif, Matt. xix. 24. It is liȝhter, or eysier a camel for to passe thorwȝ a nedelis eiȝe.

339 c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 36. A nedle þre cornerid whos iȝe schal be holid on boþe sidis.

340 1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. i. 87. So much wit…. As will stop the eye of Helens Needle.

341 1712–4.  Pope, Rape Lock, II. 128. Wedg’d whole ages in a bodkin’s eye.

342 1740.  Cheyne, Regimen, 313. The Rays of Millions of different Flambeaux may pass … through the Eye of a Needle.

343 1831–4.  J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. 358. The formation of the gutters and the piercing of the eye.

344   b.  A hole pierced in a tool or implement, for the insertion of some other object.

345 1554.  Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 57. For makynge the iee of the clapper [of a bell] … xiiijd.

346 1703.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 155. Put the Eyes of the Hindges over the Pins of the Hooks.

347 1747.  Hooson, Miner’s Dict., E j b. When the Miner haums a Pick, there is always Some of the Haum comes through the Eye.

348 1796.  Pearson, in Phil. Trans., LXXXVI. 445. Its [the axe’s] length from eye to edge was seven inches.

349 1827.  J. F. Cooper, Prairie, I. ii. 26. He buried his axe to the eye, in the soft body of a cotton-wood tree.

350 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 284. Eye of an anchor. The hole in the shank wherein the ring is fixed.

351 1881.  F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 33. The eye should be made close to the end of the spring which should be rounded.

352   c.  An opening or passage for the introduction or withdrawal of material, as in the ‘runner’ or upper stone of a mill, in a kiln, etc.; also for exit or ingress, as in a fox’s earth, a mine, etc.

353 1686.  Burnet, Trav., v. (1750), 277. He comes out at the Eye of the Mill all in Wafers.

354 1741.  Compl. Fam. Piece, II. i. 295. Having found a Fox’s Earth, cause all his Holes you can find to be stopt, except the main Hole or Eye that is most beaten.

355 1747.  Hooson, Miner’s Dict., G iv. Eye of the Shaft … is the very beginning of the Surface or Grass Clod, sometimes called the Mouth in old Works.

356 1776.  Young, Tour in Irel. (1780), 301. He burns it in arched kilns, with several eyes.

357 1812.  Chron., in Ann. Reg. 1811, 5. When the men employed at the lime-kiln … went to their work, they found a man and a woman lying dead on the edge of its eye.

358 1842[?].  E. J. Lance, Cottage Farmer, 19. 41/2 bushels of flour from the eye of the mill.

359 1843.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., IV. I. 27. The main drain opens into the ditch at a spot called the ‘eye.’

360 1843.  Portlock, Geol., 682. In each quadrant of the kiln, there is an opening, called an eye, or fire-hole.

361 1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., IV. 605. A damsel on the spindle … agitates the shoe beneath the hopper and causes the grain to dribble into the eye of the runner.

362   d.  A small hole or hollow in bread or cheese, etc. (Cf. BULL’S EYE 12). Obs. exc. dial. [Cf. Fr. œil in same sense.]

363 1528.  Paynell, Salerne Regim., E ij. Chese … not to tough … nor to full of eies.

364 1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 483. Cheeses made of their [Sheep’s] milk is … full of eyes and holes.

365 1649.  Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653), 143. A Mud, or Sludg … which is very soft, full of Eyes and Wrinckles.

366 1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, III. v. 244/1. Bad Cheese … full of Eyes, not well prest.

367 1710.  J. Clarke, Rohault’s Nat. Phil. (1729), I. 29. Those large Spaces which we call the Eyes of the Bread.

368 1879.  Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Wood-bk., s.v., ‘I like,’ said a young farmer, ‘bread full of eyes, cheese without any.’

369   21.  A loop of metal or thread in a ‘hook and eye,’ esp. that used as a fastening in dresses. Also a metal ring for holding a rod or bolt, or for a rope, etc., to pass through.

370 1599.  Minsheu, Sp. Dict. (1623), Hevilla … hooks and eies of siluer.

371 1611.  Cotgr., Piton … an Eye for a curtaine rod [etc.].

372 a. 1658.  Cleveland, Pet. Poem, 23. My Eyes are out, and all my Button-moulds Drop.

373 1697.  Derham, in Phil. Trans., XX. 2. On the Top I left an Eye in the Wire.

374 1715.  Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 130. Two Iron Eyes for the ends of the Axis to play in.

375 1763.  Del Pino, Sp. Dict., Máchos y hémbras, hooks and eyes.

376 1831.  Brewster, Nat. Magic, x. (1833), 247. Having … made it [the rope] pass through a fixed iron eye.

377 1865.  J. C. Wilcocks, Sea-Fisherman (1875), (1875), 35. A piece of brass wire (having eyes turned at the ends).

378 1880.  W. C. Russell, Sailor’s Sweetheart (1881), II. iv. 201. A couple of scuttlebutts lashed … to eyes in the bulwarks.

379 Mod.  The stair-rods are too large for the eyes.

380   b.  A loop of cord or rope; esp. ‘the circular loop of a shroud or stay, where it goes over the mast’ (Adm. Smyth); and in other nautical applications. Also the loop at one end of a bow-string.

381 1584.  R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XIII. xxix. 337. Put the eie of the one [cord] into the eie or bowt of the other.

382 a. 1642.  Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, III. (1704), 345/2. An Eye or two, and a Wall-knot.

383 1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Collet d’étai, the eye of a stay placed over a mast-head.

384 1797.  Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., II. 324. Two pair of main-shrouds cut in the eyes.

385 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 275. Elliot-eye … is an eye worked over an iron thimble in the end of a hempen bower-cable, to facilitate its being shackled to the chain for riding in very deep water. Ibid., 283. Flemish eye, particularly applied to the eye of a stay, which is either formed at the making of the rope; or by dividing the yarns into two equal parts, knotting each pair separately and pointing the whole over after parcelling.

386 1882.  Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 9. The eyes of the rigging.

387   22.  Arch. (see quot. 1888).

388 1727–51.  Chambers, Cycl., Eye of the Volute.

389 1888.  Gwilt, Archit., Gloss. 1277. Eye, a general term signifying the centre of any part: thus the eye of a pediment is a circular window in its centre. The eye of a dome is the horizontal aperture on its summit. The eye of a volute is the circle at the centre, from whose circumference the spiral line commences.

390   b.  transf. in Conchology.

391 1755.  Gentl. Mag., XXV. 32/1. Volute, is that twist of spirals which winds round the axis or columella, diminishing by degrees, and ending in a point called the eye. Ibid., 34. The eye [of the shell] is perfectly white, and shaped like a nipple.

392   † 23.  Anat. Eye of the knee: the knee-cap.

393 c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 177. To kepe þis ioynture from harm, is ioyned þeron a round boon &… of summen it is clepid þe yȝe of þe knee.

394   24.  Typog. † a. = the FACE of a type. [Fr. œil.] b. The enclosed space in the letters d, e, o, etc.

395 1676.  Moxon, Reg. Trium Ord. Lit. Typo., 22. In the Parallel of 23 draw a line for the Eye, from the inside of e to the outside on the right hand.

396 1736.  Bailey (folio), Eye (with Printers) is sometimes used for the thickness of the types or characters used in Printing; or more strictly the graving in relievo on the top or face of a letter.

397 Mod.  The eyes of the type are filled up.

398   25.  Artificial eye; also simply ‘eye’: A glass imitation of the natural eye.

399 1832.  Babbage, Econ. Manuf., § 300. I … determined to think of the dolls’ eyes…. I satisfied myself that the eyes alone would produce a circulation of a great many thousand pounds.

400 1884.  Syd. Soc. Lex., s.v. Eye, Artificial eye, a thin shell or concavo-convex piece of glass or enamel, coloured in imitation of a natural eye, which is introduced beneath the lid when the eye has been enucleated.

401 1888.  Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 90/2. Artificial eyes are inserted,… and the specimen is then placed … to dry.

402   26.  Glass eye. a. = prec. b. also simply ‘eyes’: A pair of spectacles. c. = BULL’S EYE.

403 15[?].  Kennedy, Agst. Mouth-Thankless, v. (in Evergreen). In thy Bag thou beirs thyne Een.

404 1710.  Acc. Death Tom Whigg, II. 39. A Glass Eye, the Workmanship … of the Famous Gualtero.

405 1719.  D’Urfey, Pills, III. 18. A pair of Glass Eyes to clap on my Nose.

406 1785.  Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Juvenile Indiscretions (1786), I. 62. I must put on my eyes; yes, yes, I see I was mistaken.

407 1886.  Pall Mall Gaz., 22 Dec., 5/1. The pale rays of the sun show through the glass eyes on deck.

408 1890.  Coues, Handbk. Ornithology, 66. Glass eyes, of all sizes and colours, may be purchased at a moderate cost.

409   IV.  attrib. and Comb.

410   27.  General relations: a. attributive, (portions or natural appendages of the eye) as eye-brim, -orbit, -place, -root, -socket; (actions, properties, qualities, sensations of or pertaining to the eye) as eye-craft, -encounter, -glance, -level, -love, -pleasure, -range, -reach, -search, -sparkle, -tear, -wrinkle; (surgical appliances for examining or operating on the eye) as eye-cup, -douche, -forceps, -instrument, -speculum, -syringe; eye-like, adj.; b. objective, as eye-clearer, -doctor, -guard, -irrigator, -protector; eye-bedewing, -beguiling, -bewildering, -bewitching, -brightening, -dazzling, -delighting, -distracting, -glutting, -offending, -over-flowing, -pleasing, -rejoicing, -retorting, -scaring, trying, etc., also with indirect obj. eye-sweet, adjs.; eye-ward adv.; eye-casting, -devouring, -watering vbl. sbs. c. locative as eye-blurred, -bold, -starting adjs.; eye-earnestly adv.; instrumental as eye-charmed, -checkt, -reasoning, -seen adjs.; parasynthetic and similative as eye-blue, -headed, -tipped.

411 1612.  J. Taylor (Water P.), To Sir R. Douglas. This kingdom weeps … With … *eye-bedewing verse.

412 1645.  Quarles, Sol. Recant., i. 4. Heart-corrupting, *eye-beguiling Gold.

413 1637.  Gillespie, Eng.-Pop. Cerem., IV. ix. 46. The … *eye-bewitching farding, of fleshly shew.

414 1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. ix. *Eye-bewildering chiaroscuro.

415 1839.  Bailey, Festus, xix. (1848), 225. Within, the dome Was *eyeblue sapphire.

416 1592.  Warner, Alb. Eng., VII. xxxvii. 168. She *eie-blur’d, and adiudged Praies the dastard’st.

417 1606.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. IV. II. Magnificence, 424. Th’ *eye-bold Eagle never fears the flash … of Lightning.

418 1641.  Milton, Ch. Govt., Wks. 1738, I. 58. Some *eye-brightning Electuary of Knowledge and Foresight.

419 1729.  T. Cooke, Tales, Proposals, etc. 185. The Caitiff trembles, and his *Eyebrims flow.

420 1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 88. By suche … good *eye castyng: thei shall alwaies bee able … to speake what thai ought.

421 1649.  G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., ccclxii. Amazement but Enthralls *Eye-Charm’d Spectators.

422 1654.  Gayton, Pleas. Notes, II. iv. 47. He forgot his Table, till *eye checkt to his duty.

423 1883.  R. Turner, in Gd. Words, Dec., 790/2. The pretty little Eyebright … had at one time a great reputation as an *eye-clearer.

424 1639.  Horn & Robotham, Gate Lang. Unl., lxxvi. heading, Of opticks (*eye-craft) and painting.

425 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Eye-cup, a cup for washing the eyeball.

426 1601.  Chester, Love’s Mart. Cantoes, xlv. (1878), 147. *Eye-dazling mistries.

427 1757.  Dyer, Fleece, II. 574. The tribe of salts … *eyedelighting hues Produce.

428 1887.  Hissey, Holiday on Road, 87. Windmills … always charming features in the prospect, life-giving and eye-delighting.

429 1873.  Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 1473. Monsieur Léonce Miranda ate her up With *eye-devouring.

430 1885.  E. D. Hale, in Harper’s Mag., March, 558/2. They are as good as any *eye-doctor.

431 1884.  Syd. Soc. Lex., *Eye douche, an instrument by means of which a stream of water or medicated fluid can be applied to the surface of the eye.

432 1818.  Keats, Endymion, I. 360. Sweeping, *eye-earnestly, through almond vales.

433 1833.  Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. i. (1865), 241. A momentary *eye-encounter with those stern bright visages.

434 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. iv. 37. His countenaunce … scornefull *ey-glaunce at him shot.

435 1827.  Keble, Chr. Y. Visit. Sick. Your keen eye glances are too bright.

436 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 9. To them that covet such *eye-glutting gaine Proffer thy giftes.

437 1884.  Health Exhib. Catal. (ed. 2), 136/1. Gauze Wire *Eye Guards.

438 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Eye-headed Bolt, a form of bolt having an eye at the head-end.

439 1884.  Syd. Soc. Lex., *Eye-irrigator, a coil of narrow lead tubing … readily bent to fit the orbit and the surface of the lids … through which a constant current of warm or cold fluid is maintained.

440 1611.  Cotgr., Miraillet, a Thornebacke which hath on either of her sides … a great *eye-like spot.

441 1879.  Lubbock, Sci. Lect., ii. 51. Many of the hawkmoth caterpillars have eye-like spots.

442 1863.  ‘Ouida,’ Held in Bondage (1870), 92. And *eye-love expires.

443 1806.  J. Grahame, Birds of Scot., 77. A melancholy, *eye-o’erflowing look.

444 1595.  Shaks., John, III. i. 47. Patch’d with foule Moles, and *eye-offending markes.

445 1858.  H. Miller, Rambl. Geol., II. xii. 434. The snout of the Dipterus was less round; it bore no marks of the *eye-orbits.

446 1869.  Blackmore, Lorna D., ii. (ed. 12), 10. A light came through my *eye-places.

447 1580.  Sidney, Arcadia (1622), 6. Medowes, enamelled with all sorts of *eie-pleasing flowers.

448 1677.  Gale, Crt. Gentiles, II. IV. 446. His spirit hath garnished … the Heavens, i. e. decked them with those eye-pleasing gloriose lights.

449 1607.  Markham, Caval., I. 53. If you preserue your Mare for beautie, and *eye-pleasure.

450 1884.  Syd. Soc. Lex., *Eye-protectors.

451 1880.  Miss Broughton, Sec. Th., I. xii. The very instant he is out of *eye-range.

452 1622–62.  Heylin, Cosmogr., III. (1682), 12. They had so long together lain in *eye-reach.

453 1839.  Bailey, Festus, xx. (1848), 234. *Eye-reasoning man.

454 1645.  Quarles, Sol. Recant., v. 23. Full heaps of *eye-rejoicing gold.

455 1818.  L. Hunt, Foliage, Orig. Poems, 28. As on the *eye-retorting dolphin’s back That let Arion ride him.

456 1791.  Cowper, Odyss., IX. 458. All his *eye-roots crackled in the flames.

457 1657.  Reeve, God’s Plea for Nineveh, 153. All our lip-reverence, *eye-search, feet-lackying, ear-bibbing … scarce bring forth a conspicuous Penitent.

458 1871.  Palgrave, Lyr. Poems, 116. The keen torrents of *eye-searing light.

459 1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., xlii. (1856), 382. *Eye-seen growth.

460 1841–4.  Emerson, Ess., Hist., Wks. (Bohn), I. 10. Whose *eye-sockets are so formed that it would be impossible for such eyes to squint.

461 1854.  Owen, Skel. & Teeth (1855), 13. The eye-sockets … are … large, and usually with a free and wide intercommunication in the skeleton.

462 1870.  Emerson, Soc. & Solit., Bks., Wks. (Bohn), III. 90. Laughter and blushes and *eye-sparkles of men and women.

463 1794.  Coleridge, Relig. Musings, iv. Fear, the wild-visaged, pale, *eye-starting wretch.

464 1598.  J. Dickenson, Greene in Conc. (1878), 124. Which spoyle their stommacks with vnsauory myxtures, thereby to seeme *eye-sweete.

465 1645.  Rutherford, Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845), 187. Not only God, but all his instruments that he worketh by, must be eye-sweet to us. Ibid., 376. A Providence as fair and eye-sweet as white paper.

466 1863.  Manch. Exam., 22 May. The effect of this arrangement is peculiarly ‘eye-sweet.’

467 1616.  W. Forde, Serm., 42. The hearts griefe and the *eie-teares must goe together.

468 1791.  E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., II. 142. The Cherub train … with wonder touch the sliding snail, Admire his *eye-tip’d horns.

469 1887.  Sat. Rev., 14 May, 703/1. Colours worked on highly glazed *eye-trying paper.

470 1891.  Carlyle, in Daily News, 3 Nov., 5/3. Placidly sharp fat face, puckered *eyeward (as if all gravitating towards the eyes).

471 1840.  Hood, Up the Rhine, 61. This gaping, and *eye-watering.

472 1851.  H. Melville, Moby-Dick, xvi. 78. Such *eye-wrinkles are very effectual in a scowl.

473   28.  Special comb.: † eye-apple, the apple of the eye; eye-baby, the image of the spectator seen in another’s eye; eye-bar, a steel or iron bar having an eye or hole at either end, used in bridges; eye-blight, something that blights or dims the eye; eye-blink, the twinkling of an eye (cf. BLINK sb.2 3); eye-blinking vbl. sb. (cf. BLINK v. 6), a half-closing of the eye (to what is indecorous); eye-bone, the bony circle round the eye, the orbit; † eye-brine, tears; † eye-cast, an act of casting the eye, a glance or look; eye-copy, a copy made by the hand, with the aid of the eye only; eye-dawn, the dawn or first appearance (of a feeling) in the eye; † eye-dolp = eye-socket; eye-dot = eye-speck; eye-dotter, a small brush used in graining wood in imitation of bird’s-eye maple; eye-drop, a tear; eye-end, that end of a telescope to which the eye is applied; † eye-flap = BLINKER 2 b; † eye-form (see quot.); eye-handle (of a spade, etc.), a handle having an eye or hole; † eye-hope, hope arising from the appearance of a thing; † eye-lamp, lamp or light of the eye; eye-lens, the lens nearest the eye in an optical instrument; eye-light, (a) the light of the eye, (b) a light (candle or lamp) for the eye; eye-limpet (see quot.); eye-line, (a) the field or range of vision, (b) in pl. the lines above and below the eye of a bird; eye-loop = EYE-HOLE, a loop-hole; eye-memory (see quot.); eye and ear-observation (see quot.); eye-observation, an observation taken by the eye alone; eye-opener, (a) U.S. a draught of strong liquor, esp. one taken in the morning, (b) something that throws sudden light on a subject or that makes clear what was dark and ambiguous, (c) something that causes keen surprise: eye-parley, communication by interchange of looks; † eye-pearl, a facet in a compound eye; eye-pedicel, eye-peduncle, Zool. a pedicel or peduncle supporting an eye; eye-peeper = EYE-LID; eye-point = EYE-SPOT; eye-probe (see quot.); eye-purple (see quot.); eye-rim (see quot.); eye-scope = EYE-SHOT; eye-seed, in pl. seeds that, when blown into the eye, are said to remove foreign substances; † eye (ȝen)-seke [see SEKE], eyesickness; yearning; † eye-set a., set down by eye-witnesses, trustworthy; eye-shade, a shade for the eyes, (a) one worn or used as a protection from the light; (b) a hood attached to a microscope to prevent the entrance of lateral rays to the eye; † eye-sick a., affected by things one sees; eye-siren (see quot.); eye-sketch = EYE-DRAUGHT; eye-sorrow, (a) suffering through the eye, (b) = EYE-SORE; eye-speck, an eye consisting of a single speck, a rudimentary eye; eye-stalk, the stalk or peduncle supporting the eye; = eye-peduncle; eye-star (see quot.); eye-stone, (a) a stone resembling an eye, (b) (see quot. 1828); † eye-streams, tears; eye-structure (see quot.); eye-sucker (see quot.); eye-sweep, a survey with the eye; eye-trap, something to catch or deceive the eye, a specious appearance; eye-trick, a trick of the eye, a covert glance; eye-tube, the tube of the eye-piece in a telescope; † eye-vein, a branch-vein; eye-verdict, the evidence of the eyes; eye-wages, such wages as eye-service deserves; eye-waiter, one who waits for a look from his master as indicative of his will; = EYE-SERVANT; eye-wash, a wash or lotion for the eye, also fig.; eye-wattle, a wattle or excrescence near the eye of a bird; eye-web, membrane covering the eye (e.g., of a mole); eye-wise a., wise in appearance; † eye-worm, a worm in the eye, in quot. fig.; eye-worship, adoration performed by the eye; eye-wright, one who cures eyes. Also, EYE-BALL, -BEAM, -BITE, etc.

474 1658.  A. Fox, trans. Würtz’ Surg., II. ix. 81. If a party hath received a Wound in the *Eye Apple,… then … [etc.].

475 1890.  Coues, Field & Gen. Ornith., II. iv. 271. Our own reflection, diminished to the size of the *‘eye-baby.’

476 1890.  Daily News, 16 April, 6/6. Such important pieces as the *eye-bars of suspension bridges.

477 1800.  Coleridge, Piccolom., V. iii. Therefore are they *eye-blights, Thorns in your foot-path.

478 1867.  Dixon, New Amer., I. xii. 143. And in an *eye-blink, Carter fell to the ground dead.

479 1891.  Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Oct., 2/1. It is a pity that in these days of sham prudery and *eye-blinking such conversations cannot be reproduced.

480 1793.  Holcroft, trans. Lavater’s Physiog., vii. 47. *Eyebones with defined … firm arches.

481 1606.  Davies, Sir T. Overbury, Wks. (Grosart), 13. The Judge … Powders his words in *Eye-brine.

482 1672.  J. Howard, Mad Couple, II. in Hazl., Dodsley, XV. 346. There’s two of them that make their love together, By languishing *eye-casts.

483 1883.  I. Taylor, Alphabet, iv. § 2 I. 207. An early *eye-copy of a portion of the inscription.

484 1820.  Keats, Ode to Psyche, 20. Tender *eye-dawn of aurorean love.

485 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, III. x. 15. Off his *E dolp thæ flowand blude and attir He wische away.

486 1878.  M‘Kendrick, in Encycl. Brit., VIII. 816/1. Eye-specks or *eye-dots met with in Medusæ, Annelidæ, &c.

487 1873.  Spon, Workshop Rec., Ser. I. 422. Some grainers use small brushes called maple *eye-dotters … for forming the eyes.

488 1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. v. 88. That Tyranny … Would … haue wash’d his Knife With gentle *eye-drops.

489 1790.  Roy, in Phil. Trans., LXXX. 154. This piece of mechanism in the *eye-end of the telescope.

490 1878.  Lockyer, Stargazing, 311. The eye-end changes its position rapidly.

491 1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Oeilleres, A bridle with *eye-flaps for a fore-horse.

492 1775.  Ash, Eye-flap.

493 1551.  Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., I. Def. B ij b. A figure moche like to a tunne fourme, saue that it is sharp couered [1574 cornered] at both the endes … and that figure is named an *yey [1574 eye] fourme.

494 1880.  Catal. Tool Wks. Sheffield, 24. The spades above No. 4 have *Eye Handles.

495 1580.  Sidney, Arcadia (1622), 351. *Eye-hopes deceitfull proue.

496 1600.  J. Lane, Tom Tel-troth, 110. Daigne with your *eye-lamps to behold this booke.

497 1871.  Lockyer, Elem. Astron., § 468. We get an inverted image at … the focus of the *eye-lens.

498 1879.  Newcomb & Holden, Astron., 63. The eye-lens E receives the pencil of rays, and deviates it to the observer’s eye.

499 1824.  J. Bowring, Batavian Anthol., 59. The brightest of stars is but twilight Compared with that beautiful *eye-light.

500 1869.  J. Martineau, Ess., II. 378. Eyelight comes out to mingle with the daylight that comes in.

501 1891.  Farmer, Slang, *Eye-limpet an artificial eye.

502 1839.  Bailey, Festus (1854), 532. One unlimited *eye-line of pure space.

503 1885.  Pall Mall Gaz., 7 Nov., 4/1. A flycatcher sits lengthwise upon a branch. How beautiful … its white eye-lines, and barred forehead!

504 1866.  [J. A. Symonds], in Cornh. Mag., Nov., 543. On its walls [may still be traced] the *eyeloops for arrows.

505 1888.  Pall Mall Gaz., 20 March, 3/2. Closely akin to quickness of perception is *eye-memory, or ‘the impressing by will on memory things which we have seen.’

506 1879.  Newcomb & Holden, Astron., 79. *Eye-and-ear observation … is … the part which both the eye and the ear play in the appreciation of intervals of time. The ear catches the beat of the clock, the eye fixes the star.

507 1889.  Daily News, 3 Jan., 5/2. The camera … gives more reliable results than mere *eye observations.

508 1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., IV. xvi. (C. D. ed.), 513. That transatlantic dram which is poetically named an *eye-opener.

509 1869.  ‘Mark Twain,’ Innoc. Abr., xv. 149. The uneducated foreigner could not even furnish … an Eye-Opener.

510 1879.  N. & Q., 15 Feb., 140. His lecture must have been a lively … eye-opener for the somnolence of a cathedral town.

511 1884.  E. T. Hooker, in Amer. Missionary (N.Y.), April. The ability manifested in the discussion … would have been an eye-opener to Dr. Tucker.

512 1651.  Charleton, Ephes. & Cimm. Matrons, II. (1668), 33. The *Eye-parly between Leander and Hero.

513 1665.  Hooke, Micrographia, 179. There may be by each of these *eye-pearls, a representation to the Animal of a whole Hemisphere in the same manner as in a man’s eye there is a picture or sensation in the Retina.

514 1854.  Woodward, Mollusca (1856), 24. The *eye-pedicels of the snail.

515 1852.  Dana, Crust., I. 440. The acicle of the outer antennœ is long subulate, seldom shorter than the *eye-peduncle.

516 1786.  Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 25 Dec. When my poor *eye-peepers are not quite closed, I look to the music-books.

517 1856–8.  W. Clark, Van der Hoeven’s Zool., I. 51. Animals without *eye-point and tail.

518 1868.  Browning, Ring & Bk., I. 633. The scrutinizing eye-point of some star.

519 1860.  Mayne, Exp. Lex., *Eye-probe. Surg. Name for a probe having an eye, or small hole at one end.

520 1886.  Daily News, 24 Sept., 5/1. A substance termed the visual purple of the eye. Now, this *eye-purple is eminently sensitive to the action of light.

521 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Eye-rim, a circular single eye-glass, adapted to be held to its place by the contraction of the orbital muscles.

522 1891.  R. Kipling, City Dreadf. Nt., iv. 24. They can declare truthfully the name of every ship within *eye-scope.

523 1878.  Britten & Holland, Plant-n., 172. *Eye-seeds…. Probably Salvia Verbenaca.

524 c. 1485.  Digby Myst., Mary Magd., 1577. I am so wexyd with *ȝen sueke, Þat [etc.].

525 1632.  Lithgow, Trav., X. 507. So may some Stoicall Reader misconster and misconceaue some parts of this *eye-set History.

526 1866.  K. R. C., in N. & Q., 10 March, 196/2. An *eye-shade of cardboard … is more useful than ornamental.

527 1646.  Bp. Hall, Balm Gilead, 299. I have long since left to be *eie-sick.

528 1594.  J. Dickenson, Arisbas (1878), 62. That *eye-SYREN, alluring not with the sound, but at the sight.

529 1774.  M. Mackenzie, Maritime Surv., 84. He may … sound the Depths of the Water, and mark them on an *Eye-sketch of the Coast.

530 1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 317. Of this column, I made an eye-sketch at the time.

531 1828.  Carlyle, Misc. (1857), I. 132. The law of Destiny which dooms them to such ‘unspeakable *eye-sorrow.’ Ibid. (1837), Fr. Rev., II. VI. vi. So many Courtiers … are an eyesorrow to the National Guards.

532 1839.  Todd, Cycl. Anat., II. 130/2. The *eye-specks are situated a little way behind the head.

533 1880.  Bastian, Brain, iii. 61. The simple ‘eye-specks’ of some of the lower Worms.

534 1854.  Woodward, Mollusca (1856), 24–5. The snail affords a remarkable, though familiar instance, when it draws in its *eye-stalks.

535 1880.  Huxley, Crayfish (ed. 6), i. 24. At the ends of the eyestalks, are the organs of vision.

536 1834.  Southey, Doctor, Pref. I. 41. So many featherlets leading up to … the gem or *eye-star, for which the whole was formed.

537 1677.  Plot, Oxfordsh., 129. An Ophthalmites, or some sort of *Eye-stone.

538 1828.  S. F. Gray, Suppl. to Pharmacopæia, 143. Guernsey eye-stone being put into the inner corner of the eye works its way out at the outward corner and brings out any strange substance with it.

539 1865.  H. Emanuel, Diamonds, etc. 163. These stones [onyx] are also termed by jewellers ‘eye-stones.’

540 1594.  Southwell, M. Magd. Fun. Teares (1602), 30. Would our eyes be so drie, if such *eye-streams were behoouefull?

541 1888.  F. H. Hatch, Gloss. Terms for Rocks, 11. *Eye-structure. In this structure … the foliated and secondary minerals are arranged in layers round the larger original constituents, producing lenticular forms which often bear a striking resemblance to eyes.

542 1744.  Baker, in Phil. Trans., XLIII. 35. I shall … distinguish it by the Name of *Eye-Sucker, as that Name conveys an idea of the Manner how it lives.

543 1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Eye-sucker, a small sea insect, which is sometimes found fixed by the snout to the Eyes of sprats.

544 1865.  E. Burritt, Walk to Land’s End, 440. When you have taken your first *eye-sweep, you cannot say which goddess is the fairest.

545 1785.  Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Juvenile Indiscretions (1786), I. 4. The *eye-trap of a good house.

546 1825.  Blackw. Mag., XVIII. 152/2. A got-up thing—a mere eyetrap.

547 1603.  Florio, Montaigne, III. v. (1632), 487. Galba … perceiving him and his wife beginne to bandy *eie-trickes and signes.

548 1779.  Dollond, in Phil. Trans., LXIX. 332. The *eye-tube which contains the wires of the telescope.

549 1837.  Goring & Pritchard, Microgr., 6. The elongation or contraction of the length of the body, by means of the eye-tube.

550 1545.  Raynold, Byrth Mankynde, 43. They sende into each of the caules innumerable small *eye veynes.

551 1657.  S. W., Schism Dispach’t, 198. Dr. H. would persuade us to beleeve against our *eye-verdict.

552 1620.  Sanderson, Serm., I. 150. They do Him but eye-service, and He giveth them but *eye-wages.

553 a. 1734.  North, Lives, II. 249. Most of them were but *eye-waiters.

554 1866.  Cornh. Mag., Sept., 361. Not all the hair-pins, and *eye-washes, and affectations can equal it.

555 1884.  C. T. Buckland, Sk. Soc. Life India, ii. 45. Most officers of any tact understand the meaning of eye-wash.

556 1889.  ‘F. Anstey,’ Pariah, I. i. He came up to me with some eyewash or other about our being neighbours at Gorsecombe now.

557 1868.  Darwin, Anim. & Pl., I. vi. 188. A long-beaked carrier, having large *eye-wattles.

558 1883.  W. S. Dugdale, trans. Dante’s Purgatorio, XVII. 188. Through which thou couldst see no better than a mole does through his *eyeweb.

559 1876.  Lowell, Poet. Wks. (1879), 472. When those *eye-wise … shall be lost In the great light.

560 1591.  Lyly, Endym., III. iv. 45. Love is but an eye worme, which onely tickleth the head with hopes.

561 a. 1674.  Milton, Prose Wks. (Jod.). *Eye-worship.

562 1656.  Heylin, Surv. France, 28. My hostess … perswaded me to this holy *eye-wright.

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