keep a weather eye out

Idioms

Also,. Be extremely watchful or alert, as in We should keep a weather eye on our competitors in case they start a price war. The precise allusion in this expression is disputed, but presumably it refers to watching for a storm. [Early 1800s]

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.

In addition to everything else, Apple Apple, Google Google, Microsoft Microsoft, Amazon.com Amazon.com, and IBM IBM now have to keep a weather eye out for cybersquatters.

From Forbes • Jan. 22, 2015

Besides his job as ship's doctor he had the un-naval post of naturalist, and intended to keep a weather eye out for Mollusca, Acalephae, Cirripedia, epizoa, Radiata and such.

From Time Magazine Archive

I'll keep a weather eye out for him, never fear.

From Ted Strong's Motor Car by Taylor, Edward C.

"Hang tight to yore scalps, boys, and keep a weather eye out for sign."

From Boys' Book of Frontier Fighters by Sabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)

I always keep a weather eye out, as the saying is, and the minute it looks as if there would be too much snow for me to get a living, I move along.

From The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Burgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023