eyelid
Americannoun
noun
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either of the two muscular folds of skin that can be moved to cover the exposed portion of the eyeball
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Also called: clamshell. aeronautics a set of movable parts at the rear of a jet engine that redirect the exhaust flow to assist braking during landing
Etymology
Origin of eyelid
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at eye, lid
Explanation
Your eyelid is the piece of skin that closes over your eyeball when you blink. The purpose of your eyelids is to protect your eye (and, of course, to be decorated with eye shadow). When you close your eyes to go to sleep, you're actually closing your eyelids — and they are making it easier for you to sleep by blocking any light from your eyes. Humans actually have upper and lower eyelids that keep dust, sweat, and other substances out of their eyes, and also spread moisture across the entire eye with each blink.
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.
Eyelid spasms, while annoying, are “rarely a sign of something serious,” said Stephanie Erwin, an optometrist at Cleveland Clinic’s Cole Eye Institute.
From New York Times • Dec. 28, 2021
Eyelid myokymia usually goes away on its own without medical intervention, the experts said.
From New York Times • Dec. 28, 2021
They’re soon joined for an 11-part harmony by a bunch of other characters from the show, including Benjamin Siemon’s Grocery Clerk With Half an Eyelid, but not David Hull’s White Josh, for whatever reason.
From Slate • Oct. 15, 2018
One, subtitled “I Love — The Eyelid Clicks / I See / Cold Poetry,” nods to a current exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and to Jack Spicer’s linked-together poems.
From New York Times • Dec. 19, 2010
The Eyelid swells, the Eye is closed, and the Patient has not the least Ease or Tranquillity.
From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)
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.
