eyewash
[ahy-wosh, ahy-wawsh]
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Origin of eyewash
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for eyewash
Historical Examples
The leaves and flowers are also used as expectorants, and the juice of the fruit and leaves is used as an eyewash.
The eye is then covered with a cloth, kept wet with an eyewash, as for external ophthalmia.
Special Report on Diseases of the HorseUnited States Department of Agriculture
All the high-sounding arguments for a moral world and all the laws on the books implementing those arguments are just eyewash.
The House from NowhereArthur G. Stangland
eyewash
- a mild solution for applying to the eyes for relief of irritation, etc
- informal nonsense; rubbish
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for eyewash
n.
"a wash or lotion for the eyes," 1866, from eye (n.) + wash (n.). Colloquial use for "blarney, humbug" (1884), chiefly British, is perhaps from the notion of "something intended to obscure or conceal facts or true motives." But this, and expression my eye also may be the verbal equivalent of the wink that indicates one doesn't believe what has been said (cf. French mon oeil in same sense, accompanied by a knowing pointing of a finger to the eye).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
eyewash
(ī′wŏsh′)- A soothing solution for bathing or medicating the eye.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.