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

“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

It’s one small way because affordable housing created through the program so far is an eyedropper contribution to a sea of need.

From Washington Post • Aug. 18, 2022

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

By the time an extreme amplification peaks out. an eyedropper of the victim’s blood may contain a hundred million particles of virus.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston