eyelid
Americannoun
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eyelids
plural
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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
An operation to life the 48-year-old's eyelid after a minor stroke left her with huge swelling that covered her eye.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Scarlet Rowe, age 11, from Irvine in North Ayrshire, was treated for burns to her face and eyelid after an incident in May.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
The shot of the battered Big Baby, one eyelid drooping, sitting on a swing gazing at the full moon, is far more chilling than anything in the “M3GAN” movies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
“A lot of patients are on GLP-1s nowadays and when the midface drops there’s less support for the lower eyelid too and bags become more obvious,” Schwarcz explained.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 1, 2026
My eyelid is twitching badly now, and I’m not hungry anymore.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
Jasmine Karipayeva, 27 from Kazakhstan, decided to have blepharoplasty -- surgery to remove skin from the eyelids -- after "coming across a video on TikTok", lured by low prices and pictures of professional-looking surgery.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Their long, heavy eyelids give them a look of drowsy calm; the adjective most often associated with them is “chill.”
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
Nurses and doctors wore biohazard suits and three layers of medical gloves when they entered his room, swabbing him for virus up his nostrils and in other sites like his eyelids twice a day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
"In your cheeks or just underneath your eyelids, we'll be looking for changes in blood flow when a person is talking or presenting."
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2026
“It seems that Mrs. Blythe is accusing you of . . .” Mrs. Kuen blinkered her eyelids and cleared a catch in her throat.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
