eye

Less common meanings

8. 8
   storm centernouncountable

   The comparatively calm region at the center of a hurricane or similar cyclonic storm, often with clear skies.

   Pilots flew into the eye to measure the storm's pressure.

   The eye passed overhead, bringing a brief, eerie calm before the winds returned.

   UsageFrequently the eye of the storm; figuratively, in the eye of the storm means at the center of a crisis.

   Similarcenter

9. 9
   needle holenouncountable

   The opening in a needle, at the end opposite the point, that the thread is passed through.

   He licked the thread to make it slide through the needle's eye.

   Threading the eye took several attempts in the dim light.

10. 10
    round spotnouncountable

    A round spot or marking that looks like an eye, as on a peacock feather or butterfly wing, a black-eyed pea, or a black-eyed Susan.

    Each peacock feather carries a shimmering eye near its tip.

    The large eyes on the moth's wings made it look like a much bigger creature.

    Similareyespot, spot

11. 11
    detectivenounslangabbreviationellipsis

    A private detective; short for private eye.

    UsageMuch more common in full as private eye.

    Note

    A clipping that keeps only the last word of private eye, yet still names the whole job: a detective hired privately to gather information about someone. The bare word needs a setting to work, such as a client, a case or a missing person. Otherwise readers will take it as the organ of sight. Erik Larson, in The Devil in the White City (2003), still sets "eyes" inside quotation marks, treating it as a borrowed label. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Eye meaning a private detective is an ellipsis of private eye. en.wiktionary.org
    • A private eye is a privately employed detective who gathers information about someone. en.wiktionary.org
    • Erik Larson wrote The Devil in the White City, first published in 2003. openlibrary.org
    • Larson puts eyes, meaning hired private detectives, inside quotation marks. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    metal loopnouncountable

    A loop, or a hole through an object, made to receive a hook, pin, rope or handle, such as the hole in an axe head.

    Each hook slides neatly into its matching eye along the collar.

    Sailors looped the rope through a metal eye bolted to the deck.

    UsageCommon in hook and eye, a small two-part fastener on clothes.

    Similarloop, eyelet, ring, hole

13. 13
    stove burnernounUScountable

    A burner on the cooking surface of a kitchen stove.

    He set the kettle over the largest eye and waited for it to whistle.

    Only one eye on the old range still heated up properly.

    UsageBurner is the more widely understood word.

    Similarburner, ring, hotplate

    Note

    An American kitchen word, characteristic of the South, where the heating rings on a stovetop are the eyes of the stove. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • In American English, an eye can mean a stove burner. en.wiktionary.org
    • The stove sense has a Southern regional association, illustrated by a South Carolina speaker's experience with speakers from elsewhere. web-archive-2017.ait.org.tw
14. 14
    potato budnouncountable

    A reproductive bud on a potato, from which a new plant can sprout.

    Each seed potato should be cut so that every section contains at least one eye.

    Sprouts emerged from the eyes after weeks in the warm shed.

    Similarbud

15. 15
    meat corenouncountable

    The round core of lean muscle at the center of a cut of meat, or a separate cut taken from that core.

    Slice the pork loin so that each chop has a thick, even eye with a thin rim of fat.

    For the roast beef sandwiches, the deli uses a whole eye of round cooked rare.

    UsageMostly found inside the names of cuts: rib eye (or ribeye) and eye of round.

    Note

    A butcher's word that makes sense once a cut is sliced across: the lean muscle shows as a round shape in the middle, like an eye. On its own it usually describes the meaty center of a chop or steak, as against the fat and bone around it. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • A cross-section of a meat cut can expose a rounded central muscle. afs.mgcafe.uky.edu
    • A chop can contain an eye of muscle bordered by bone and fat. en.wikipedia.org
16. 16
    nouncountable

    Something that stands out for its beauty or importance, resembling an eye among lesser features.

    the very eye of that proverb

    1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”

    Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts

    1671, John Milton, Paradise Regain’d

    Similarcenterpiece, jewel, gem, highlight, showpiece

    Note

    A literary metaphor in which one thing is the eye of something larger: its brightest, most precious part. Milton's Paradise Regain'd (1671) calls Athens "the eye of Greece, mother of arts", and Shakespeare's Henry V speaks of "the very eye of that proverb". Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • John Milton wrote Paradise Regain'd, first published in 1671. en.wikipedia.org
    • Paradise Regain'd describes Athens as "the eye of Greece, mother of arts". gutenberg.org
    • Shakespeare's Henry V contains "the very eye of that proverb", spoken by the Constable. folger.edu
17. 17
    cheese holenouncountable

    One of the holes that form in certain kinds of cheese.

    Each eye in a good Emmental starts as a bubble of gas while the cheese ripens.

    The cheesemaker prized the wheel's evenly spaced eyes.

    Similarhole

18. 18
    nounobsoletecountable

    A particular shade of a color, or a slight tinge of one.

    Similartinge, tint, hint, cast, shade

    Note

    Robert Boyle, writing in 1664, has red "with an eye of blue" making a purple. The phrase shows the proportion: the second color is a small admixture, not an equal share. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Boyle's quoted discussion appeared in Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours, published in 1664. gutenberg.org
    • Boyle describes red with an eye of blue making purple; the item modernizes his spelling "Blew". gutenberg.org
19. 19
    remove budsverbtransitive

    To remove the reproductive buds, known as eyes, from potatoes.

    Once the potatoes have been rumbled they require 'eyeing' with a turning knife or hand peeler.

    1996, Food Preparation and Cooking

    My first assignment was eyeing old potatoes. The Siegler brothers would buy potatoes so old they looked like an octopus. My job was to make them look presentable and, of course, sellable.

    2012, Bob Vargovcik, Bayonne Boy

    Note

    Made from the potato's buds: in kitchens, to eye a potato is to cut those buds out with a turning knife or hand peeler, often after machine peeling. The verb shares its spelling with the "look over" verb, so eyeing potatoes can mean cutting them or simply inspecting them. The setting makes the difference. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Potato eyes are buds capable of producing new plants. web.ics.purdue.edu
    • Eyeing potatoes can be done with a turning knife or hand peeler. en.wiktionary.org
    • Eyeing potatoes is performed after machine peeling. hopkins.biz
    • Eyeing potatoes can also mean looking at them critically; context distinguishes the meanings. tile.loc.gov
20. 20
    letter namenouncountable

    The written-out name for the letter I or i.

    She read out the license plate: an eye, a four, then a bee.

    Spell "sing" with an ess, an eye, an en, and a gee.

    Note

    Spoken spelling is where this sense lives. When letters are read aloud one by one, the name of I is written eye, so IED becomes "eye-ee-dee" in radiotelephone procedure. The letter, the pronoun I and the organ all sound alike. Writing the name out shows that a letter is being spoken rather than a word. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Eye is a written-out name for the letter I or i. en.wiktionary.org
    • Radiotelephone instructions give 'eye-ee-dee' as the spoken form of IED. navy-radio.com
    • The letter name I and the organ name eye are homophones. en.wiktionary.org
    • The pronoun I and the organ name eye are homophones. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    inside of letternouncountable

    The small enclosed space, or closed counter, in the upper part of the lowercase letter e.

    In this typeface the eye of the e is unusually large and open.

    A clogged eye can make small text look like a solid blob when printed.

    Similarcounter

    Note

    A typographer's word for one of the counters that give letters their shape. Its size matters for legibility, because at small point sizes a cramped eye easily fills with ink. Hernan Diaz's Trust (2022) catches exactly that failure: an over-inked e "with a blacked-out eye". Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The eye is a typographical counter in lowercase e. en.wikipedia.org
    • Counter size affects legibility. accessability.rgd.ca
    • Hernan Diaz wrote Trust, first published in 2022. penguinrandomhouse.com
    • Trust describes an over-inked e using the exact phrase quoted. en.wiktionary.org
22. 22
    verbtransitive

    To take an interest in something as a thing one might go after, buy, or do next.

    Analysts say two larger chains eye the regional grocer as a takeover target.

    Fresh from her primary win, the mayor is already eyeing a run for the Senate.

    UsageEspecially common in news headlines: a firm eyes a rival, a senator is eyeing the presidency.

    Similarconsider, contemplate

    Note

    No actual looking is involved: a mayor can eye a Senate run without seeing anything. Unlike watching someone appraisingly, the verb here is about wanting and planning, and its objects are ambitions: a takeover, a seat, a comeback, a new market.

23. 23
    noun

    An empty point, or group of points, surrounded entirely by one player's stones in Go.
24. 24
    noun

    The small circle at the center of a volute, the spiral scroll of an Ionic capital.
25. 25
    noun

    In the plural, eyes: the foremost part of a ship's bows, around the hawseholes where the anchor cables run out.
26. 26
    verb

    To let fish eggs develop until the dark eye spots become visible.
27. 27
    noun

    A brood: a group of young raised together.
28. 28
    noun

    The bottom of a mine's main shaft, where it opens onto the workings.
29. 29
    verbobsolete

    To look or seem a certain way to someone.

    My becomings kill me, when they do not eye well to you.

    c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”