# bullseye

Pronunciation: say "BUULZ-y" US/UK /ˈbʊlzaɪ/, AUS /ˈbʊlzɑɪ/

## Noun

1. The center of a shooting target, lying inside the areas known as the inner and the magpie.
   - Simple: The middle of a target that people shoot at.
   - _Each recruit had to place five rounds inside the bullseye before moving on to the long range._
   - _On the paper target, the bullseye was a small black circle ringed by wider bands._
2. A shot that lands in the center of a target.
   - Simple: A shot that hits the very middle of a target.
   - _Her first shot on the rifle range was a bullseye, and the instructor nodded in approval._
   - _After a string of bullseyes, the young archer took first place at the county fair._
5. The two rings at the very center of a dartboard.
   - Simple: The two rings in the middle of a dartboard.
   - _She needed the bullseye to finish the game, and her last dart landed just outside it._
   - _His dart caught the outer ring of the bullseye rather than the tiny center spot._
6. A striped, peppermint-flavored hard candy.
   - Simple: A hard candy with stripes that tastes of peppermint.
   - _He unwrapped a bullseye and let the sharp peppermint clear his head before the meeting._
   - _The old candy store still sells bullseyes from tall glass jars behind the counter._
7. A slice of bread with a hole cut in the middle and an egg fried in the hole.
   - Simple: A slice of bread with a hole in the middle and an egg cooked in it.
   - _He pressed a glass into a slice of bread to cut the hole for a bullseye, then cracked an egg into it._
   - _The diner on Main Street serves bullseyes with bacon on weekend mornings._
8. A convex glass lens placed in front of a lamp to concentrate its light and make it easier to notice as a signal; also, a lantern fitted with the lens.
   - Simple: A curved glass that makes a lamp's light strong enough to use as a signal, or the lamp itself.
   - _From the deck they could see the flash of a bullseye signaling from the harbor wall._
   - _The old police bullseye in the museum case still has its thick, curved lens._
9. In military use, a reference point known to everyone involved, from which the location or direction of something is given.
   - Simple: A place everyone knows, used as a starting point to say where something is.
   - _Before the exercise, the squadron chose a bend in the river as its bullseye._
   - _The controller gave each contact's position as a direction and distance from the bullseye._
10. A circular window or opening in a wall or dome.
   - Simple: A round window or round opening in the wall or roof of a building.
   - _At noon, sunlight falls through the bullseye at the top of the dome and lands on the marble floor._
   - _The architect set a stone-framed bullseye in the gable to light the attic._
11. The central part of a disk of crown glass, marked by a pattern of concentric ripples.
   - Simple: The middle part of a round sheet of crown glass, which has rings like ripples.
   - _The glazier cut clear panes from the edge of the crown glass and saved the rippled bullseye for a back window._
   - _Seen through the bullseye in the tavern's front window, people on the street look bent and wobbly._
12. The mark left on a piece of blown glass where it was attached to a punty, the rod used to hold the piece while it is shaped.
   - Simple: The small mark left on blown glass where a metal rod held it while it was being made.
   - _Turn the vase over and you'll see the bullseye where the punty was snapped off._
   - _The glassblower ground the bullseye flat so the bowl would sit level on the table._
13. A banknote worth fifty pounds sterling. *(slang, UK)*
   - Simple: A British banknote worth fifty pounds.
   - _The cabbie wouldn't take a bullseye, so I had to go and find a cashpoint._
   - _He peeled two bullseyes off the roll and slid them across the bar._
14. A hand-canceled postmark that a counter clerk applies at a post office, typically on a receipt as proof of mailing.
   - Simple: A mark a post office worker stamps by hand, often on a receipt to show that you mailed something.
   - _Ask the counter clerk for a bullseye on your receipt so you can prove the tax return went out on time._
   - _The clerk pressed a bullseye onto the certified-mail receipt, showing the date and the post office._
15. Any of Brazil's first postage stamps, produced from 1843 onward. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: One of the first postage stamps made in Brazil, starting in 1843.
   - _Collectors of Brazilian stamps prize a bullseye with wide margins and a clear cancel._
   - _The auction's star lot was a pair of bullseyes still on their original cover._

## Interjection

3. Used in reply to a statement or guess to say that it is completely accurate.
   - Simple: Said when someone has said or guessed something that is exactly right.
   - _"Let me guess: the printer jammed again?" "Bullseye," the office manager said._
   - _"You're moving to Denver for the new job." "Bullseye. I start in March."_
4. Used as a cry when someone hits the center of a target.
   - Simple: Shouted when someone hits the very middle of a target.
   - _The coach clapped and called out, "Bullseye!" as the arrow struck dead center._
   - _"Bullseye!" the carnival worker announced as the boy's ball smacked into the middle of the dunk-tank target._

## Noun

16. A piece of thick glass fitted into the side of a ship to let in light. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A piece of thick glass in the side of a ship that lets light inside.
   - _Gray morning light came through the bullseye in the hull and fell across the cramped berth._
   - _The shipwright cut an opening in the hull planking and fitted a thick bullseye into it._
17. A crown coin, or the sum of five shillings that it was worth. *(obsolete, UK)*
   - Simple: An old British coin called a crown, worth five shillings, or that amount of money.

## Origin

From bull's + eye. It may come from the practice of English archers shooting an arrow through the eye socket of a bull's skull as a test of skill. The stamp-collecting sense comes from the shape of the key plate or vignette.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bullseye (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).