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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

eyedropper

“It is a broad-billed hummingbird,” the 73-year-old Lattouf said, as she moved an eyedropper to its beak.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2023

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

“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

Perhaps the furthest from Euclidian principles are Peter Fox’s jungles of multicolor drips, each applied with an eyedropper.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2016

More plausibly, he told of feeding his initial sample by eyedropper to a mouse, which showed no ill effects after ingesting what was then “the world supply” of heavy water.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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