eyedropper

American  

[ahy-drop-er] / ˈaɪˌdrɒp ər /

noun

1. a dropper, often one used to dispense medicine such as eye drops or ear drops.

   Hold the eyedropper over the eye and carefully dispense the prescribed number of drops into the eye.

   Use an eye dropper to put some of the cleaning solution directly into the top of the printhead.

2. Digital Technology.

   1. Usually eyedropper tool a menu option or function that allows the user of a graphics application to sample and analyze a color occurring in a digital image, and then adjust or replicate that color for use elsewhere.

      You can set the skin tone for your image more precisely using the eyedropper tool.

   2. a menu icon representing this function, resembling a dropper, used for taking up and dispensing small amounts of liquid, as paint on a color palette.

      Click on the eyedropper and then click on the color you want to select.

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Etymology

Origin of eyedropper

First recorded in 1935–40; eye + dropper

Example Sentences

If they get too wet, their little roots will rot, Bird said, so water sparingly only when the moss is dry, using an eyedropper or turkey baster to get the water close to the roots.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 29, 2021

“To continue product-by-product is like using an eyedropper to empty the ocean — ineffective, inefficient, and frustratingly insufficient to protect consumers.”

From Washington Post • Jul. 14, 2021

“That’s showing up to a four-alarm fire with an eyedropper full of water,” one expert noted to the New York Times.

From Slate • Apr. 28, 2021

All of the water that we see around us in lakes and streams and up in the sky can be represented by adding three more drops from an eyedropper.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

The boy who would rescue baby squirrels and nurse them back to life with an eyedropper.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse