had been eyeing

• past perfect progressive

  past perfect progressive

  Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.

  of eye.
  eye

  noun

  the organ of sight, in vertebrates typically one of a pair of spherical bodies contained in an orbit of the skull and in humans appearing externally as a dense, white, curved membrane, or sclera, surrounding a circular, colored portion, or iris, that is covered by a clear, curved membrane, or cornea, and in the center of which is an opening, or pupil, through which light passes to the retina.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

had been eyeing

Fire had been eyeing Lewandowski for a decade, believing they could convince him to come to America, especially with the large Polish community in Chicago.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

Yet she was still eager to put the skills she had amassed to use, and had been eyeing Korea as a market worth exploring for years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

The Weiss family, which founded Mel’s Drive-In diner in 1947, had been eyeing the property for years and signed a lease in 2016.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

“Even so, the pause could last weeks to months, imposing significant costs on developers who had been eyeing completion within the next two years.”

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 23, 2025

O’Dell had been eyeing a senior cheerleader standing in the aisle.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Related Words

• check out
• contemplate
• inspect
• look at
• scan
• scrutinize