eyelash
Americannoun
-
eyelashes
plural
-
one of the short, thick, curved hairs growing as a fringe on the edge of an eyelid.
-
the fringe of hairs itself.
noun
-
any one of the short curved hairs that grow from the edge of the eyelids
-
a row or fringe of these hairs
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of eyelash
Explanation
An eyelash is a hair that grows from your top or bottom eyelid. Try batting or fluttering your eyelashes to get attention. You'll either get what you want or look silly, or both. Eyelashes are small, usually dark and curved, and having plenty of long, lush eyelashes is considered attractive in everyone, male or female. The combination of your blinking eyelids and the fringe of eyelashes helps keep small particles out of your eyes — and eyelashes are sensitive in a similar way to a cat's whiskers, so that your eyes will shut reflexively when some object comes too close.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It's something that I just evolved into doing and I use my eyelash as a paintbrush.
From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2026
Many species are no wider than an eyelash and typically grow close to the ground in damp, shaded environments.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 1, 2026
Years later, when my salary broke six figures, I found myself dropping $20 on a fancy cocktail without batting a designer-mascaraed eyelash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
Can you explain how and why you came up with the eyelash sequence, which you shot in excruciating close-up, and the truly disgusting tapeworm?
From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2025
She does not move, does not even bat an eyelash.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
They may pull out the hair on their head or in other places, such as their eyebrows or eyelashes, according to the NHS.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
Although much of her previous work involved strong co-stars or ensembles, Byrne carries this film almost single-handedly, often through close-ups shot so tightly that she felt like her eyelashes might brush the camera.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
“Young Lion” only measures about 4.5 inches tall, but Rembrandt used black chalk and white gouache to render it in minute detail, down to the animal’s eyelashes and the chain around his neck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 4, 2026
A woman with the prettiest eyelashes I’ve ever seen shows me a triple-layer strawberry lip mask from Laneige that she thinks I will “looove.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025
Crystals form on her eyelashes, or maybe they’re just wet from tears.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
