eye

Etymology 1

From Middle English eye, eie, yë, eighe, eyghe, yȝe, eyȝe, from Old English ēaġe (“eye”), from Proto-West Germanic *augā, from Proto-Germanic *augô (“eye”) (compare Scots ee, West Frisian each, Dutch oog, German Auge, Danish øje, Norwegian Bokmål øye, Norwegian Nynorsk auga, Swedish öga), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃okʷ-, *h₃ekʷ- (“eye; to see”). Other Indo-European cognates include Latin oculus (whence English oculus), Lithuanian akìs, 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). Related to ogle. The uncommon plural form eyen is from Middle English eyen, from Old English ēaġan, nominative and accusative plural of ēaġe (“eye”).

noun

1. An organ through which animals see (“perceive surroundings via light”).
   Bright lights really hurt my eyes.
   Were it to search the furthest Northern clime / Where frosty Hyems with an ycie Mace / Strikes dead all living things, Ide find it out, / And borrowing fire from those fayre sunny eyne / Thaw Winters frost and warme that dead cold clime: […] 1605, The Trial of Chivalry
   The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail. 2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 2013-09-07
2. The visual sense.
   The car was quite pleasing to the eye, but impractical.
3. The iris of the eye, being of a specified colour.
   Brown, blue, green, hazel eyes.
   Natalie’s brown eyes looked into Jim’s blue eyes, and the girl and boy flirted.
4. Attention, notice.
   That dress caught her eye.
5. The ability to notice what others might miss.
   He has an eye for talent.
6. A meaningful look or stare.
   She was giving him the eye at the bar.
   When the car cut her off, she gave him the eye.
7. Short for private eye (“a privately hire detective or investigator”).
   Far more annoying were the letters from parents of missing daughters and the private detectives who had begun showing up at his door. Independently of each other, the Cigrand and Conner families had hired “eyes” to search for their missing daughters. 2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Random House, page 199
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.
   [H]e struck the Duffer a sharp blow on the back of the head with the eye of the axe, and left him stunned and senseless on the earth[.] 18 Oct 1856, The People’s Advocate and New South Wales Vindicator, Sydney, N.S.W., page 6, column 1
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. The relatively calm and clear centre of a hurricane or other cyclonic storm.
12. A mark on an animal, such as a butterfly or peacock, resembling a human eye.
13. The dark spot on a black-eyed pea.
14. A reproductive bud in a potato.
15. (informal) The dark brown centre of a black-eyed Susan flower.
16. 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.
17. That which resembles the eye in relative beauty or importance.
18. A shade of colour; a tinge.
19. One of the holes in certain kinds of cheese.
20. (architecture) The circle in the centre of a volute.
21. (typography) The enclosed counter (“negative space”) of the small letter e.
22. (game of Go) An empty point or group of points surrounded by one player's stones.
23. (usually in the plural) Opinion, view.
    This victory will make us great in the eyes of the world.

verb

1. (transitive) To carefully or appraisingly observe (someone or something).
   After eyeing the document for half an hour, she decided not to sign it.
   They went out and eyed the new car one last time before deciding.
   Each downcast monk in silence takes / His place a newmade grave around, / Each one his brother sadly eying. 1859, Fraser’s Magazine, volume 60, page 671
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To appear; to look.
3. (transitive) To remove the reproductive buds from (potatoes).
   Once the potatoes have been rumbled they require 'eyeing' with a turning knife or hand peeler. 1996, Food Preparation and Cooking, page 418
   My first assignment was eyeing old potatoes. The Siegler brothers would buy potatoes so old they looked like an octopus. My job was to make them look presentable and, of course, sellable. 2012, Bob Vargovcik, Bayonne Boy, page 19
4. (transitive) To allow (fish eggs) to develop so that the black eye spots are visible.
   Eggs were collected from the Taylor Creek, Upper Truckee River, and Blackwood Creek traps and transported to this station to be eyed […] 1927, Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly of the Forty-Seventh Session of the Legislature of the State of California

Etymology 2

noun

1. The name of the Latin-script letter I.
   It said, in a whispering, buzzing voice, "Gee-you-ess-ess-ay-dash-em-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-em-eye-en-gee-oh-dash-pee-eye-pee-dash-pee-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-pee-eye-en-gee-oh." 2004, Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, page 170
   IED [is spoken] as "eye-ee-dee" instead of "I SPELL India Echo Delta Romeo". 2016 CCEB, Communications Instructions Radiotelephone Procedures: ACP125 (G), pages 3–5

Etymology 3

Probably from rebracketing of a nye as an eye.

noun

1. A brood.
   an eye of pheasants