His eyne were like two coals of fire as he called to us in a loud voice.
Then a stake for your belly, and the nails through your hands, thirst on your tongue, and the corbies at your eyne!
Then through the red wrath of his eyne He saw a sheathed sword, Laid thwart that wasted field of wine, Amidmost of the board.
Then a stake for your belly, and nails through your hands, thirst on your tongue, and the corbies at your eyne!
But chiefly by his face and mien, That were so fair to view; His flaxen locks that sweetly curl'd, And eyne of lovely blue.
He is slye and wittie, and seeth so sharpely that he overcommeth darkness of the nighte by the shyninge lyghte of his eyne.
c.1200, from Old English ege (Mercian), eage (West Saxon), from Proto-Germanic *augon (cf. Old Saxon aga, Old Frisian age, Old Norse auga, Swedish öga, Danish øie, Middle Dutch oghe, Dutch oog, Old High German ouga, German Auge, Gothic augo "eye"), from PIE *okw- "to see" (cf. Sanskrit akshi "the eye, the number two," Greek opsis "a sight," Old Church Slavonic oko, Lithuanian akis, Latin oculus, Greek okkos, Tocharian ak, ek, Armenian akn).
Until late 14c. the plural was in -an, hence modern dialectal plural een, ene. The eye of a needle was in Old English; to see eye to eye is from Isa. lii:8. Eye contact attested by 1965. Eye-opener "anything that informs and enlightens" is from 1863. Have an eye on "keep under supervision" is attested from early 15c.
early 15c., "cause to see;" 1560s, "behold, observe," from eye (n.). Related: Eyed; eyeing.
eye (ī)
n.
An organ of vision or of light sensitivity.
Either of a pair of hollow structures located in bony sockets of the skull, functioning together or independently, each having a lens capable of focusing incident light on an internal photosensitive retina from which nerve impulses are sent to the brain; the organ of vision.
The external, visible portion of this organ together with its associated structures, especially the eyelids, eyelashes, and eyebrows.
The pigmented iris of this organ.
The faculty of seeing; vision.
eye
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noun
A private detective; private eye: an eye named Johnny O'John (1930+)
Related Terms
big brown eyes, black eye, cats' eyes, eagle-eye, four-eyes, give someone the eye, give someone the fish-eye, give someone the glad eye, goo-goo eyes, have eyes for, in a pig's ass, keep an eye on, make goo-goo eyes, mud in your eye, not bat an eye, private eye, pull the wool over someone's eyes, put the eye on someone, redeye, the red-eye, round-eye, short eyes, shut-eye, snake eyes, stoned to the eyes, a thumb in one's eye
noun
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, or one of its detectives
[1914+; fr the eye used as the trademark symbol of the agency]