Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) (US, also old red-eye) strong, poor quality whisky; also attrib [the after-effects on the hungover drinker].

1819		Quitman in Claiborne Life Quitman I 42: Whiting and I had to treat to ‘red-eye,’ or ‘rot-gut,’ as whiskey is here called [DA].
1837		Yale Literary Mag. iii 12: An Indian tribe that [...] seldom passed the prairie, except to sell their skins, and purchase ‘red eye.’.
1847		G.W. Harris ‘There’s Danger in Old Chairs!’ Weekly Nashville Union XIII Oct. in Inge (1967) 70: We’ll be like two pints of red eye in one jug!
1850		‘Ned Buntline’ G’hals of N.Y. 201: The young jail-bird tossed off another bumper of red-eye.
1867		N.O. Picayune 25 Dec. n.p.: Your Honor needn’t say another word; I knock under; this man’s whiskey ain’t Red Eye, it ain’t Chain Lightnin’ either, it’s regular Agur-forty, and there isn’t a man living can stand a glass and keep his senses.
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms 215: He [...] takes a horn, as they called the stout horn-cup by their side; and if it is filled to the brim with Old Red-Eye, he likes it all the better, for whiskey is his favorite drink [...] and if the latter is fiery and raw it is none the less welcome.
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 10: The individual who desired to slake his thirst in a draught of ‘red eye,’ or any other alcoholic fluid, was obliged to call at the bar of the ‘Old Hickory Tavern’.
1888		Missouri Republican 8 Mar. n.p.: Corn juice, red eye, obtained from the still of the deacon at whose house he preached.
1890		Eve. World (NY) 9 Aug. 2/5: He plaintively asked for the red-eye. ‘No, old man,’ said the bookie, ’you’d better sober up on a nice, cool beer’.
[1903		Nebraska State Jrnl (Lincoln, NE) 14 June 9/7: They’ve been tagged about to see that they don’t connect with the crimson eye].
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘From Each According to his Ability’ in Voice of the City (1915) 226: He depicted the ravages of ‘redeye’ in a border town.
1911		C.E. Mulford Bar-20 Days 95: ‘Anybody’d think you was full of red-eye, the way you act,’ muttered Red.
1915		Lincoln (NE) Daily News 2 Aug. 3-A: He might be comin’ from a lodge meetin’ o’ de Sons o’ Jonadab or some ag’in’-de-redeye outfit.
1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 32: We went there, taking plenty of red-eye with us—but not until he had shown me a roll.
1934		Z.N. Hurston Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1995) 43: He would have seen Ned ‘proaging’ off to the Turk place to get a gallon of red-eye-for-courage.
1949		A. Hynd We Are the Public Enemies 49: Barrow put down a slug of red eye and walked up to her.
1957		M. Shulman Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1959) 134: Three thousand songs, including [...] Red Eye Whisky Is My Buckler, but the Bible Is My Shield.
1965		L. Haylen Big Red 4: Hey, Charlie what about a little Red-eye for the kid.
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 57: He sat up in bed [...] like a man who’d just taken a shot of homemade redeye.
1990		Crow Dog & Erdoes Lakota Woman 95: A bullet came in [...] knocking a hole in that keg, and all the good red-eye started pouring out.
2012		D. O’Donnell Locked Ward (2013) 251: I looked like W.C. Fields after a night on the Ol’ Red Eye.

(b) (US) tomato ketchup.

1928		H. Brackbill ‘Midshipman Jargon’ in AS III:6 454: Red-eye—Catsup.
1932		‘Patois of Annapolis’ in Sheboygan (WI) Press 17 Sept. 8/3: Ketchup is ‘red eye,’ and meat or gravy sauces are ‘bug juice’.
1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: Ketchup [...] redeye.

(c) (Can.) a drink made from mixing beer and tomato juice; a hangover cure.

1972

J. O’Grady It’s Your Shout, Mate! 22: A glass of vegetable juice—V8 or tomato—with ice, topped up with beer, and a few drops of tabasco [...] My wife calls it ‘Red Eye’.

(a) any air flight that deprives the traveller of proper sleep, due to take-off times, arrival times or differences in time zones; also attrib.

[1964		N.Y. Times 3 June 30/4: During the long California campaign, Mr. Goldwater has many times flown the same night flight to Washington. He calls it the ‘red-eye special’].
1974		D. Jenkins Dead Solid Perfect 89: Donny claimed he handled the case coming back from the Hawaiian Open on the red-eye from Honolulu to Los Angeles.
1986		S. King It (1987) 72: She had been able to get him a first-class seat on the American Airlines red-eye nonstop from LAX to Boston.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 1: Three days ago (is it?) I flew in on a red-eye from New York.
1999		Guardian Guide 22–28 May 15: I wish they had Concorde from New York to LA – that red-eye flight is murder.
2000		Indep. 25 Jan. 7: Catching the red-eye back to Atlanta for a 6am wake-up call.
2003		C. Stella Charlie Opera 20: He [...] had taken the long red-eye flight from New York to Las Vegas the night before last.
2012		H. Davidson ‘Magpie’ in ThugLit Sept./Oct. [ebook] I got on a redeye flight that night.
2013		Mail & Guardian (SA) 12 July 🌐 After your economy 10-hour red-eye flight, you arrive at 8pm in a strange city.
2017		Observer (London) 26 Mar. Rev. 15/4: On a red-eye to Reykjavik for New Year’s Eve.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 118: I’m on the red eye tae that fucking blight on humanity that is Heathrow.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 197: ‘So, let’s go to California. We take a red-eye to San Francisco’.

(b) of other forms of transport, e.g. an overnight long-distance bus.

2000

S. Maloney Big Ask 110: Thanks to the snores of his travelling companion, the runaway had got little sleep on the Greyhound red-eye.