# eye

Pronunciation: say "Y" /aɪ/

## Noun

1. The organ that people and animals see with; a person's eyes are often named by the color of the iris, as in blue eyes.
   - Simple: The part of the body that people and animals see with, often named by its color, as in blue eyes.
   - _A speck of dust irritated her eye during the morning walk._
   - _Owls have large eyes adapted for hunting at night._
2. Attention or notice, especially when focused on something in particular.
   - Simple: Attention or notice that you give to something.
   - _She kept a careful eye on the rising water levels._
   - _The unusual design immediately caught the editor's eye._
3. The faculty of sight; the visual sense.
   - Simple: The power to see, also called sight.
   - _The garden's careful layout is a delight to the eye._
   - _Bold, clashing patterns can tire the eye after a while._
4. A person's opinion or way of viewing something.
   - Simple: The way someone sees or judges something.
   - _To my eye, the new glass tower looks cold and out of place beside the old brick houses._
   - _In the eyes of her neighbors, the tall new fence was an insult._
5. The ability to notice what others might overlook.
   - Simple: A special skill for noticing things other people miss.
   - _The editor has a sharp eye for small mistakes in the text._
   - _He developed an eye for genuine antiques over many years._
7. A meaningful look or stare directed at someone.
   - Simple: A look or stare that sends a message without words.
   - _A stranger at the bar kept giving her the eye all evening._
   - _When the children started arguing, their mother gave them the eye._
8. The comparatively calm region at the center of a hurricane or similar cyclonic storm, often with clear skies.
   - Simple: The calmer area at the center of a hurricane, 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._
9. The opening in a needle, at the end opposite the point, that the thread is passed through.
   - Simple: The small hole at the end of a needle where the thread goes 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. 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.
   - Simple: A round spot that looks like an eye, like those on a peacock's feather or in the middle of some flowers.
   - _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._
11. A private detective; short for private eye. *(slang)* — Ellipsis of private eye.
   - Simple: A detective that someone pays to find things out for them. Short for private eye.
12. 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.
   - Simple: A small loop or hole that something such as a hook, rope or handle fits into.
   - _Each hook slides neatly into its matching eye along the collar._
   - _Sailors looped the rope through a metal eye bolted to the deck._
13. A burner on the cooking surface of a kitchen stove. *(US)*
   - Simple: One of the round burners on top 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._
14. A reproductive bud on a potato, from which a new plant can sprout.
   - Simple: A small bud on a potato that can grow into a new plant.
   - _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._
15. The round core of lean muscle at the center of a cut of meat, or a separate cut taken from that core.
   - Simple: The lean, round piece of muscle in the middle of a cut of meat, or a piece cut from it.
   - _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._
16. Something that stands out for its beauty or importance, resembling an eye among lesser features.
   - Simple: The brightest or most special part of something, the part everyone notices first.
17. One of the holes that form in certain kinds of cheese.
   - Simple: One of the round holes found in some 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._
20. The written-out name for the letter I or i.
   - Simple: The spoken name of the letter 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._
21. The small enclosed space, or closed counter, in the upper part of the lowercase letter e.
   - Simple: The small closed space above the middle bar of a 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._

## Verb

6. To observe someone or something carefully, often in order to judge or assess.
   - Simple: To look at someone or something closely and carefully.
   - _Buyers eye each painting carefully before placing a bid._
   - _The guard eyed the visitors as they entered the building._
19. To remove the reproductive buds, known as eyes, from potatoes.
   - Simple: To cut out the small spots on potatoes where new shoots can grow.
22. To take an interest in something as a thing one might go after, buy, or do next.
   - Simple: To be interested in something you might try to get, 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._

## Noun

18. A particular shade of a color, or a slight tinge of one. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A slight amount of a color, or a faint tint of one.

## Other meanings

- (noun) An empty point, or group of points, surrounded entirely by one player's stones in Go.
- (noun) The small circle at the center of a volute, the spiral scroll of an Ionic capital.
- (noun) In the plural, eyes: the foremost part of a ship's bows, around the hawseholes where the anchor cables run out.
- (verb) To let fish eggs develop until the dark eye spots become visible.
- (noun) A brood: a group of young raised together.
- (noun) The bottom of a mine's main shaft, where it opens onto the workings.
- (verb) To look or seem a certain way to someone.

## Origin

The noun comes from Middle English "eye" (also "yë," "eyghe"), from Old English "ēage," going back through Proto-Germanic "*augô" to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "eye; to see." It is related to words like Dutch "oog," German "Auge," and Latin "oculus," and is connected to the word "ogle."

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