English Explanatory Dictionary

eye

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An organ through which animals see (“perceive surroundings via light”).
  2. The visual sense.
  3. The iris of the eye, being of a specified colour.
  4. Attention, notice.
  5. The ability to notice what others might miss.
  6. A meaningful look or stare.
  7. Ellipsis of private eye.
  8. A hole at the blunt end of a needle through which thread is passed.
  9. The oval hole of an axehead through which the axehandle is fitted.
  10. A fitting consisting of a loop of metal or other material, suitable for receiving a hook or the passage of a cord or line.
  11. A loop forming part of anything, or a hole through anything, to receive a hook, pin, rope, shaft, etc.; for example, at the end of a tie bar in a bridge truss, through a crank, at the end of a rope, or through a millstone.
  12. A burner on a kitchen stove, hob, or cooktop.
verb
  1. To carefully or appraisingly observe (someone or something).
  2. To appear; to look.
  3. To remove the reproductive buds from (potatoes).
  4. To allow (fish eggs) to develop so that the black eye spots are visible.
noun
  1. The name of the Latin script letter I/i.
noun
  1. A brood.
name
  1. A place name:
  2. A large village and civil parish in the City of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England (OS grid ref TF2202).
  3. A small village in Eye, Moreton and Ashton parish, north Herefordshire, England (OS grid ref SO4963).
  4. A small town and civil parish with a town council in Mid Suffolk district, Suffolk, England (OS grid ref TM1473).
  5. A short river in Cotswold district, Gloucestershire, England, which joins the River Dikler.
  6. A river in Melton borough, Leicestershire, England, which becomes the River Wreake.
  7. A former unincorporated community in Nicholas County, West Virginia, United States.
name
  1. the comedic magazine Private Eye.
  2. The London Eye, a tourist attraction in London.

Pronunciation

/ˈaɪ̯/ [ˈaɪ̯] En-us-eye.ogg /ˈɑɪ̯/ [ˈɑ̟ɪ̯] /ˈɒɪ̯/ [ˈɒ̈ɪ̯] En-au-Commander Keane-eye.ogg /ˈaː/ [ˈaː]

Word forms

eye eyes eyen eyeing eying eyed i

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ-der. Proto-Germanic *augô Proto-West Germanic *augā Old English ēage Middle English eye English eye From Middle English eye, yë, eyghe, from Old English ēage (“eye”), from Proto-West Germanic *augā, from Proto-Germanic *augô (“eye”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃okʷ-, *h₃ekʷ- (“eye; to see”). Related to ogle. Cognates Cognate with Scots ee, eh (“eye”), North Frisian Oog, uug (“eye”), Saterland Frisian Oge, Ooge (“eye”), West Frisian each (“eye”), Alemannic German, Bavarian Aug (“eye”), Central Franconian Au, Auch, Ooch (“eye”), Dutch oog (“eye”), German Aug, Auge (“eye”), Low German Auge, Oog (“eye”), Luxembourgish A (“eye”), Vilamovian aojg, aug, oüg (“eye”), Yiddish אויג (oyg, “eye”), Danish øje (“eye”), Elfdalian oga (“eye”), Faroese eyga (“eye”), Icelandic auga (“eye”), Norwegian Bokmål øye (“eye”), Norwegian Nynorsk aua, aue, auga, auge (“eye”), Scanian yva (“eye”), Swedish öga (“eye”), Crimean Gothic oeghene (“eyes”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌲𐍉 (augō, “eye”). Other Indo-European cognates include Latin oculus (whence English oculus), Lithuanian aki̇̀s, Old Church Slavonic око (oko), Albanian sy, Ancient Greek ὄψ (óps, “(poetic) eye; face”) and ὄσσε (ósse, “eyes”), Armenian ակն (akn), Avestan 𐬀𐬱𐬌 (aši, “eyes”), Sanskrit अक्षि (ákṣi). The archaic plural form eyen is from Middle English eyen, from Old English ēaġan, nominative and accusative plural of ēaġe (“eye”).

Synonyms

eye eyeball glim globe lurk mince pie ogle optic orb peeper silm perceptiveness pit-eye gaze

Related words

tapetum lucidum eyne neen (“eyes”) Eye Peninsula Eye Water

Derived words

adze-eye hammer after-eye all eyes all my eye all my eye and Betty Martin all-seeing eye almond eye an eye for an eye angel eye apotropaic eye apple of someone's eye apple of the eye as far as the eye can see as far as the eye could see a sheet in the wind's eye bad eye bag around one's eye bag around the eye bag below one's eye bag below the eye bag beneath one's eye bag beneath the eye bag under one's eye bag under the eye bare-eye barreleye bat an eye bat of an eye beady eye beauty is in the eye of the beer holder beauty is in the eye of the beholder believe one's eyes better than a poke in the eye better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick bigeye big eye birdeye bird's-eye bird's eye chili bird's-eye maple bird's-eye view blackeye black eye blear eye blink of an eye blood in one's eye blue-eye blue eye cod boss eye brown eye browneye bug eye bullock's eye bull's eye bullseye bull's-eye bung eye by eye by the eye calyx eye
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