Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(gay) a male homosexual, i.e. one who practises anal intercourse.

1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 204: Eye doctor [...] a pederast.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 14: eye doctor (n.): A pedicator. It is said that in Old English a slang term for anus was blind-eye. (Rare.).
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 17: the man who fucks in anal intercourse, as opposed to the one who is fucked [...] eye doctor (’40s).
2002		The-House-of-Love.org ‘Gay Men Names’ 🌐 eerquay • effie • ephebophile • ethel • eye doctor.

(Irish) the anus.

1997

Share Slanguage.

the vagina.

c.1706		Dutch Riddle 1/1: When tickl’d most, it most will weep, / And never condescends to laugh [...] When it’s best pleas’d, it struggles most.
1793		Bacchanalian Mag. 74: Original and selected Toasts and Sentiments [...] The Eye that weeps most at a moving tale.
1835		‘Flash Toasts’ in Fanny Hill’s New Friskey Chanterr in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 354: The eye that weeps most, and best pleased .
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 214: Pluviöse, m. The female pudendum; ‘the eye that weeps the more it’s pleased’.

(US) an excl. of general derision, dismissal, contempt.

1897		(con. 1860s) W.E. Barton Hero in Homespun 263: ‘Ye could put it all in yer eye,’ said Eph.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 245: ‘’Frisco Blackie told me the other day that Carr was one o’ the richest crooks in the country.’ ‘Rich in your eye,’ sneered an old man.

(Irish) an excl. of disbelief, rubbish! nonsense!

1922

Joyce Ulysses 249: ‘O!’ shrieking, Miss Kennedy cried. ‘Will you ever forget his goggle eye?’ Miss Douce chimed in in deep bronze laughter, shouting: ‘And your other eye!’.

see separate entry.

a bore, a nuisance, an irritation.

1998

R. Puxley Fresh Rabbit 93: A pain in the plaster becomes a pain in the arse, or an eye ache.

see separate entries.

(US campus) the small pieces of ‘sleep’ or mucus that collect in the corners of the eyes.

1989

P. Munro Sl. U.

a setback, lit. something that ‘blacks one’s eye’.

1888

‘’Arry on Competitive Examination’ in Punch 1 Dec. 253/2: And then spiked like a juggins at last by an eye-bunger called an Exam.

see eye candy under candy n.

see cheaters n.² (1)

(US) tears.

[1909		Hawaiian Star 20 Apr. 8/4: There were tears, swelling eyedrops of bubbling laughter].
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 7: Can’t remember making with the eye drops. A cry baby I’m not.

see eye candy under candy n.

see separate entries.

(W.I.) to stare at and ogle women.

1965

S. Selvon Housing Lark 117: Once he start eye-gaming [...] we ain’t going to see him for a while.

foggy weather, in which one cannot see clearly.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 152/2: Heye-glass weather (Street, 1860 on). Foggy -requiring the help of an eye, or rather eye-glass. Attack upon young men wearing single eyeglasses, which became common in this year.

(US black) a black eye.

1988		Ultramagnetic MCs ‘Travelling At The Speed of Thought’ 🎵 Hatches down, covering knots for eye jammy.
2007		MediaTakeOut.com 19 May 🌐 Oh My! Cam’ron’s Got An Eye Jammy!!! [...] That eye jammy came from him trying to dive in that small *** baby pool .
2012		cuttinclasskidz.com 29 Nov. 🌐 [headline] HALLE BERRY’S EX CAUGHT AN EYE JAMMY.

(US) daydreams, fantasies enjoyed with the eyes closed, often as stimulated by a hallucinogenic drug; often of masturbation fantasies, esp. in phr. watch eyelid movies, to masturbate.

1971		Current Sl. V:4 11: Eyelid movies, n. Hallucinations.
1989		B. Bryson Lost Continent 73: [Y]ou could complete the work in a fraction of the time, and then shut your eyes and lose yourself in erotic eyelid movies.
2000		Cope Head ‘A Rave On Halloween’ on ‘Experience Vaults’ on Erowid.org 27 Jun. 🌐 After a few minutes of looking for drug alerts, I began to realize I was feeling the bees. I felt the calm centering that I have come to associate with 2CB. I also felt some stomach jitters, which I do not experience every time, but I am certainly familiar with. With eyes closed I was starting to detect the stirrings of eyelid movies.

(Aus.) a heavy bet.

1907

Queenslander 25 May 44/5: Thousands upon thousands of dollars were out against the mare. The Sultan went a raker on her, and Smith and myself also had an eye-lifter between us.

an artificial eye.

1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

see separate entries.

(US) remarkable, sensational.

1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1999		Eve. Standard 28 May 63: There is an eye-popping black number with white piping.
2000		Indep. Rev. 3 May 5: Eye-popping photography.

(US) to stare at aggressively.

2001

G. Pelecanos Right As Rain 83: Some of the black men [...] were looking at the two of them, not bothering to look way when Quinn eye-shot them back.

(N.Z. prison) a propensity (real or imagined) for staring at other prisoners or at warders, usu. in challenging phr. have you got eye-trouble?, often the start of a fight.

1984		Truth (Wellington) 10 July 15: As I walked from the yard into the day room [at Lake Alice Mental Hospital] for the first time a young guy said to another: ‘Have you got eye trouble?’ ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I’ll fix it for you,’ said the young guy-and smashed the other patient in the eyes with his fists. ‘Eye trouble’ is a common expression in Lake Alice and prisons. It ‘afflicts’ those who stare at others and it results in eyes being punched [DNZE].
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 66/2: have eye trouble n. to look intently at another inmate or group of inmates, and thus to appear rude or over-inquisitive.

1. (orig. milit.) rubbish, nonsense, humbug, anything done for appearance rather than effect.

1884		Jrnl United Service Instit. India 13-15 447: The field sketching board implies real business free from examination ‘eyewash’.
1909		Aberdeen Journal 14 June 6/2: He said that kind of review was mere eye-wash.
1915		C.E.W. Bean Anzac Book 115: E is for Eye-wash, a wonderful lotion, / Employed by the man who is keen on promotion.
1916		J. Buchan Greenmantle (1930) 294: I tried to find out, but they gave me nothing but eyewash.
1923		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 16 Nov. 7/4: [headline] N.F.U. Dartmouth Meeting Flapdoodle and Eyewash.
1929		(con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 235: They make up some kind of a plan; but that’s all eye-wash.
1935		B. Traven Treasure of the Sierra Madre 176: It’s all eyewash and superstition.
1942		K. Williams Diaries 9 Aug. 4: Read She balderdash! tripe! eyewash! blah! etcetera.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 5: The no-colour-bar-in-New-Zealand is the usual eyewash.
1957		G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 64: Whatever you read about it is a lot of eyewash.
1966		C. Stead Cotters’ England (1980) 227: He said he never read poetry as a boy, he thought it eyewash.
1978		P. Theroux Picture Palace 102: Eyewash, I thought.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 139: eyewash. Nonsense.
1991		(con. 1966) W. Kross Splash One 83: Not eye-wash, real gumshoe intell.

2. cheap liquor.

1927		(con. 1914–18) L. Nason Three Lights from a Match 200: Eye-wash means only one thing to him. That old sponge! [...] They’ve wrecked my car and come all the way up here with a hot-water bottle full of whiskey!
1969		J. Crumley One to Count Cadence (1987) 321: ‘Pour me a drink [...] eyewash, if you got it.’ ‘Just gin.’.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 77: eyewash cheap champagne; by extension any cheap liquor.

1. brandy.

1801		C. Dibdin Yngr Song Smith 128: ‘Eye water?’ said the drunken buck, ‘I’ve got an excellent bottle in my pocket.’.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 74: Eye-water — Brandy — mistakenly used of gin also.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict. n.p.: Culpepper’s eye-water brandy.
1895		Riverina Recorder (Moulamein, NSW) 22 May 2/7: ‘Yarra’ disburses eye water, together with a lovely bowl, either wholesale or retail.

2. gin.

1812		Spirit of Irish Wit 29: ‘She was fond, to be sure, of a little eye-water’.
1818		W. Perry London Guide 136: An invitattion to walk into that sanctum sanctorum of all groggishness follows, where the women as well as the n take their drops of eye-water.
1821		Morning Post (London) 2 Mar. 2/5: The ‘Queen’s’ eyewater, vulgarly called Gin, was in great demand.
1829		Chester Chron. 10 July 3/4: They called for fresh glasses of eye-water.
1830		Mr Mathews’ Comic Annual 15: Och, take a drop of eye water.
1843		R.S. Surtees Handley Cross (1854) 211: A large black bottle of Hollands, labelled ‘Eye Water,’ [...] was fearlessly placed on the table. [Ibid.] 213: Give us a look in, there’ll always be a drop of eye-water in the bottle.
1853		W. Howitt Two Years in Victoria (1855) I 349: Oh! eye-water we sell [...] Eye-water! that’s the stuff.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1869		G.J. Whyte-Melville M. or N. I 118: ‘On this minnit, off at six, Buster; two bob an’ a bender, and a three of eye-water, in?’ ‘Done for another joey,’ replied Buster.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1886		Judy 4 Aug. 58: He imbibed stupendous quantities of jiggered gin, dogs nose, and Paddys eye-water [F&H].
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 27: Eye Water, gin.
1900		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 1 Sept. 3/6: ‘Cream of the valley,’ ‘water of life,’ ‘white satin,’ ‘blue ruin,’ ‘eyewater’ — Gin.
1906		Manchester Courier 5 Apr. 10/3: He favoured [...] ‘Paddy’s eye-water’ —politely known as gin.

3. (US) alcohol, usu. whisky.

1876		St Louis Globe-Democrat 19 Jan. n.p.: They nominate ‘bottled electricity,’ ‘lemonade with a stick in it,’ ‘jig-water,’ ‘budge,’ ‘bilge-water,’ ‘bug-juice,’ ‘rat-poison,’ ‘fusel-oil,’ ‘red-eye,’ ‘liquid ointment,’ ‘cut nails,’ ‘hard head,’ ‘benzine,’ ‘nitro-glycerine,’ ‘oil,’ ‘tea,’ ‘eye-water,’ ‘chain- lightning.’ [...] they all want the same article, alcohol, more or less diluted.
1888		Semi-weekly Interior Journal (Stanford, KY) 12 June 2/4: Dr Baker dishes out the devil’s eye-water to the boys.

4. (US) illicitly distilled whisky.

1856		Sugar Planter (W. Baton Rouge, LA) 26 Jan. 1/4: The City Marshall was of ‘easy virtue’ [and] seldom known to refuse a glass of ‘Cincinnati eye-water’.
1874		Memphis Cly Appeal 31 Dec. 3/4: The ‘boys’ at Louisville have coined the term ‘jig-water’ to what is familiarly known here as ‘bug-juice,’ and in Cincinnati as ‘eye-water’.
1941		‘More Tennessee Expressions’ in AS XVI:1 Feb. 447/1: eye water. Liquor. ‘Eye water’s more plentiful in Jackson County now than common.’.

5. tears.

1895

Mirror of Life 2 Feb. 11/1: He vainly tried to hide / The tears which fell like rain drops from the sun, / All his efforts were in vain / As eyesvater fell like rain.

(US) an eye witness.

2023

(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 7: Three men grabbed her [...] Multiple eyewits saw them.

see separate entries.

to glance (suspiciously) at, to look at furtively; to look askance at.

1866		C.H. Smith Bill Arp 103: He cut his eye along the line of my numerous offspring, and observed that I had better scatter them, as provisions were scarce.
1887		J.C. Harris Free Joe (1907) 105: Dee wuz times, suh, w’en it seem like ter me dat Marse Fess Trunion wuz a-cuttin’ he eye at Miss Lady, en den I ‘low ter myse’f, ‘Shoo, man! ... you nee’nter be a-drappin’ yo’ wing ‘roun’ Miss Lady, kaze she too high-strung fer dat.’.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 22: Cutting his Eyes, getting suspicious.
1916		J.G. Cruickshank Black Talk 31: To ‘cut your eye’ at anybody is to look askance at him.
1978		Tom Petty ‘No Second Thoughts’ 🎵 Cuts her eyes and looks out at the stars.
1988		(con. 1940s) C. Bram Hold Tight (1990) 117: He cut his eyes at the two men.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 90: Sean said nothing and just cut his eye at his cousin, while biting his lip nervously.
2001		T. Hendriks ‘Mr. Bombastic’ Jam. Paleface 🌐 Attempt to employ a man in Jamaica to blow up a plane and you’d have to check on him by the hour. Follow him to the airport, you’d find him lyricsing a girl and when he sees you coming he’d cut his eye at you.
2005		Jade LB Keisha the Sket (2021) 46: She cut er eye at me [...] an went in da back [of the shop].
2019		S.M. Jones Lives Laid Away [ebook] Brecker nervously assessed each of us [...] then cut his eyes to the semicircle of weapons laid out in front of him.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 170: He expected Ike to cut his eyes at him again.

see under dig out v.

(Aus.) phr. of (aggressive) dismissal.

		1926Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 25 Sept. 1/6: ‘As I do not recognise you or any other outsider in this deal, you can dip your eye in hot fat’.
1929		Gilgandra Wkly (NSW) 7 Nov. 2/4: ‘You go and dip your eye in manure!’ said Paddy.
1930		Townsville Dly Bulletin (Qld) 25 June 14/1: And this answer sent me reeling: / ‘Garn and dip your eye in mud!’.
1938		Sporting Globe (Melbourne) 14 Dec. 6/7: I venture to say that the most effective hold that could be employed would be the ‘dip your eye in mud’ slam.
1943		Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 13 Nov. 14/2: Sergeant back-chatted, which brought the reply: ‘Aw, go and dip your eye in ink!’ This remark thoroughly roused the sergeant and he threatened an orderly-room charge if it wasn’t withdrawn. Delinquent looked contrite. ‘Now Sarge,’ he purred, ‘you know I didn’t mean to say ink!’.
1952		T.A.G. Hungerford Ridger & River 175: ‘I might go back to it for a while. I’ll wait till some rich old harlot trots in and starts to chuck her weight around, and then I’ll just key her up, good and hard. I’ll say, ‘Listen, missus; you go and dip your eye!’ and then I’ll blow. Oh boy, can’t you see her?’.
1954		T.A.G. Hungerford Sowers of Wind 187: ‘Oh, dip your eye!’ Stewart told him testily.
1972		Beresford & Humphries Adventures of Barry McKenzie [film script] Go and dip your left eye in hot cocky cack.
1995		Tharunka (Sydney) 5 Sept. 29/2: Good boys and girls aren’t you? You couldn’t edit your way out of paper bags. Little smart arses you are. Poofters would be more like it. Go dip your eyes in poop, you tripe!
2008		Aus. Sl. 77: dip your left eye in hot cocky cack! also dip your left eye in hot cocky shit! 1. int. An exclamation of disdain or dismissal (coined in the 1972 film The Adventures of Barry Mckenzie). 2. int. Get lost! Piss off!

see under do v.¹

1. a two-way mirror used for security in a casino; also attrib. (see cit. 2002).

1961		J. Scarne Complete Guide to Gambling 224: Some of the larger Nevada casinos have observation posts concealed behind one-way glass in the walls and in the ceilings above each gaming table, known as ‘eyes in the sky’.
1985		E. Leonard Glitz 177: I’ve known her ever since Vegas. She’s really smart, you know, to get where she is. Up there in the Eye in the Sky. [Ibid.] 244: Look down through one-way smoked glass at the casino floor [...] ‘The Eye in the Sky,’ Nancy said.
1997		J. Birmingham Tasmanian Babes Fiasco (1998) 234: This ain’t no fucking one-deck burn joint you know. They got the Eye in the Sky.
2002		Gamble Trib. 25 Nov. 🌐 Casinos prefer slots, because they don’t require trained dealers or close eye-in-the-sky supervision.

2. a police or traffic helicopter; also attrib. (see cit. 2003).

1975		L. Dills CB Slanguage.
1980		W.C. Anderson Bat-21 22: Your report confirms big eye in the sky.
2003		Guardian 10 Mar. 🌐 Inevitably, it’s a car chase – covered live by eye-in-the-sky helicopters.

3. (N.Z. prison) a prison officer conducted surveillance.

2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] : .
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 66/1: eye in the sky n. a lookout, a pegger.

(orig. milit.) deeply sunken eyes, often bloodshot and usu. associated with excessive drinking or ill health; occas. with ref. to cannabis (see cite 1996).

1826		Grensboro Patriot (NC) 6 Sept. 2/4: The eyes [...] are very badly executed in the counterfeit [...] like two burnt holes in a blanket.
1831		Navy at Home II 128: Toby had taken too much heavy wet on board; (Gay compared his eyes [...] to ‘two burnt holes in a blanket!’).
1836		Wkly Raleigh Register (NC) 18 Oct. 1/2: His bare and beggarly looks [and] the vitrified appearance of his eyes, which put me in mind of two burnt holes in a blanket.
1856		Tennessean (Nashville, TN) 14 Aug. 3/1: Her face bloated, and eyes rese bling two burnt holes in a blanket, told a tale of riotous living.
1860		Richmond Dispatch (VA) 21 Nov. 1/6: His hide filled with bad whiskey, and his eyes resembling burnt holes in a blanket.
1867		Preston Herald 30 Mar. 5/3: Are there any promising sons or brothers [...] the rule of whose conduct seems to be won’t go home till morning, who [...] have eyes that look like ‘two burnt holes in a blanket?’.
1877		Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL) 11 Dec. 3/2: His eyes looked like two burnt holes in a blanket.
1886		Leavenworth Times (KS) 10 Apr. 2/4: His eyes are lustrous, furtive and percing, looking not unlike two burnt holes in a blanket.
1892		Star-Gaz. (Elmira, NY) 4 Nov. 3/1: What’s the matter? Hain’t you well [...] You look taller-colored as the dead, an’ your eyes is like burnt holes in a blanket.
1908		Salt Lake Trib. (UT) 4 Oct. 4/4: [advert] When hollow cheeks appear and hidden pigments make the eyes look like burnt holes in a blanket, the blood is sick and out of tune.
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 28: I kin tell by your eyes – look like two burnt holes in a blanket!
1975		J. Carr Bad (1995) 28: He came up all white and coughing, his eyes like two pissholes in a snowbank.
1978		Pess & Sun Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) 26 oct. 5/4: ‘I got up hung over and looked into the mirror at eyes like two burn holes in a blanket’.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 174: If we think that one of our loved ones looks ‘like death warmed up’ [...] if their morning-after eyes remind us of ‘two piss holes in the snow’ we do not hesitate to tell them so.
1985		(con. 1968) D.A. Dye Citadel (1989) 299: Fucker’s eyes looked like two pissholes in a snowbank.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 214: ‘You look shitfaced [...] gotta eyes like two pissholes in the snow’.
1999		Guardian Editor 19 Nov. 16: Just off the boat, 19 with dead white skin and two scabby eyes like pissholes in the snow.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 139: Last time ah saw im was [...] at some pahty likes, is face black an blue, eyes like fuckin piss’oles in dirty snow.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 74: eyes like burn holes in a blanket Not looking well. ANZ.

(N.Z.) as fast as possible.

1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 43/2: eyes out as fast as possible; a variation of the Australian convict era phrase ‘to go eyes out’, to work very hard; eg ‘Okay, lads, eyes out and we’ll be through this by three.’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

drunk.

1600

Shakespeare Twelfth Night V i: O! he’s drunk, Sir Toby, an hour agone: His eyes were set at eight i’ the morning.

drunk.

1611

Shakespeare Tempest III i: trin.: If th’ other two be brained like us, the state totters. ste.: Drink, servant monster, when I bid thee: thy eyes are almost set in thy head.

to gaze at, to ogle sexually.

2009

R. Milward Ten Storey Love Song 126: It freaks him out slightly getting eyed up by a muscly bald T-shirted person.

1. to beat up.

1980

E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 239: get in (one’s) eye 1. Fight. 2. Beat severely.

2. to hit someone in the face or eye; also fig. use, to throw or pass something.

1974		D. Ireland Burn 92: Hit us in the eye with the salt, will yer? [...] The salt comes through the door. Gunner catches it expertly.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 105: A number of terms for fighting warn the opponent [...] just where he can expect a fist or knuckle to fall – go upside one’s head, get in one’s eye, dance on one’s lips.

to be stared at.

1997

Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 438: As he comes back through the front counter, he gets the eye from Ron, Miss Mary’s son.

(Aus.) to blacken someone’s eye.

1902

Bulletin (Sydney) 18 Jan. 16/2: Offensively Sober Person (to drunk, who has suddenly rushed up and given him ‘an eye’): ‘What did yer hit me for?’.

1. (also give someone the dirty eye) to stare at; to appraise.

1899		W.J. Kountz Billy Baxter’s Letters 69: Johnny immediately began to figure, on how he would treat certain people over in Pittsburg who had given him the eye in bygone days.
1900		Ade More Fables in Sl. (1960) 134: She would [...] be Lippy and give them the Eye.
1920		Ade Hand-made Fables 284: [She] would give the Gimlet Eye to each Zipper and then rush back to her Apartment to slip on something a little more Ultra.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 143: I gave him the eye.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 55: Did they stop ’n give you the dirty eye like it was their Charlie.
1951		M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 10: He gave me the eyes up and down while I opened the door.
1953		W. Brown Run, Chico, Run (1959) 20: The nabs gave the poolroom the eye, climbed the stairs to Mamma Lina’s for a cold beer or stopped to chat with Candy Sam.
1966		M. Rumaker Exit 3 and Other Stories 103: She’s been giving us the eye ever since we came in.
1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 126: The security guard strolls by and gives us the eye.
1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 195: I didn’t have my ID and the guy gave me the hairy eyeball all the time I’m in there.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 151: Above the bed a different, more sombre holy man gave me the eye.
1992		R. Price Clockers 131: Mazilli continued staring, giving him the eye.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 217: Shiner didn’t appreciate how Chub was putting him on the spot: giving him the eye, acting like Shiner was holding something back.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 56: Giving the eye to Karras.
2001		I. Welsh Glue 92: Sittin in the wideo seat, right at the back oan the toap deck, giein the eye tae any gadges that came oan.
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] I thought some citizen was giving me the eye and went over and stared at him.
2012		M. Lacher On the Bro’d 233: We saw this hot chick totally giving us the eyes.

2. (also give someone the eye-roll) to appraise sexually, to give a seductive look.

1899		A.C. Gunter M.S. Bradford Special 203: The master’s the right stuff! See him knock out those two dudes who had been giving the eye to his wife!
1901		‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 40: The Sweet Dreams across the way were giving Buck the glorious eye-roll.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 250: Every time the chunky girl in the green tights on the end gave him the eye he stood up in the box and signalled that he was willing to buy a drink.
1914		Truth (Melbourne) 3 Jan. 11/4: [headline] Merry Michael Gives the Glad Eye to a Gay Girlee. Brave Belle belts Him on the Boko.
1916		G. Jennings Poached Eggs and Pearls (1917) 16: Look at Lady Penzance giving him the glad eye!
1928		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 40: D’ye get the doll tryin’ to give him the eye? Ain’t she a lil?
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 81: More than one lobby loiterer gave her the quick eye and turned to follow her slender, agile figure.
1932		(con. 1917–19) Dos Passos Nineteen Nineteen in USA (1966) 380: They ran into two high-yellers who gave them the eyez.
1933		Cab Calloway ‘I Learned About Love From Her’ 🎵 We met one evening when the moon was bright, / And when she gave me the eye I thought that I would die.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 656: You’ve been giving me the eye all afternoon.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Social Error’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 452: She sometimes gives him the old eye when she sees him around the Sixteen Hundred club.
1940		(con. 1914) S.J. Simonsen Soldier Bill 16: She gave Bill the ‘glad eyes’, and he thought, ‘This is sure luck for me’.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 19: The chicks lined up along the curb, giving me the eye all the way.
1951		J.D. Salinger Catcher in the Rye (1958) 74: I started giving her the old eye a little bit.
1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 55: Better lookers than this Pachuco would be giving him the eye in Dallas or Houston one of these days.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn (1966) 68: All the drunks gave her the eye.
1971		J. Mandelkau Buttons 101: One of the brothers spotted this queen sitting down the end of the bar giving us the eye.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 37: Young hookers were starting to appear, sitting on bus benches and giving male motorists the eye.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 178: The Major’s wife [...] used to give me the eye on the rare occasions I visited them.
1998		Guardian 23 Oct. 16: Two slappers start giving him the eye.
1998		K. Sampson Awaydays 63: Elvis reckons the girl who plays bass keeps giving him the eye.
1999		Observer Mag. 12 Sept. 10: There are two women giving them the eye.
2000		N. Barlay Crumple Zone 172: And they’ll be giving guys the eye over the rim of their Hooch bottles.
2001		A. Sillitoe Birthday 70: Brian gave her the eye, and they got talking.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 251: The only other occupant is this dark-skinned young maiden [...] and I’m getting the eye big time.
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: I looks them [i.e. two girls] over and I’m getting the glad-eye, fucking sure I am.

3. to give a signal, to ‘tip the wink’.

1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 42: She [...] went down to the Ladies for a few minutes till somebody give her the eye that the half hard comic had sloped.
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 95: After he’d introduced his girl he’d give them the eye, and [...] he’d have the place to himself.
a.1955		‘Good-Doing Wheeler’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 76: She gave the eye to a bouncer nearby, / Who carried him out to the car.
1957		‘Ed Lacy’ Lead With Your Left (1958) 10: Lieutenant Reed gave Denny the eye.
1965		H. Williamson Hustler 157: [H]e [i.e. a confederate] was bettin’ on the side, ’cause he knew I could beat this guy. If I’d give him the eye to go on and bet I was goin’ a beat the sucker!

see under sore adj.¹

1. (US) to desire, wish for, usu. sexually.

1880		Waukesha Dly Freeman (WI) 22 jan. 6/1: ‘O, Jessie, here, seem to be the favorite [...] He has eyes only for her’.
1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘The Return of the Wanderer’ Sporting Times 14 Apr. 1/4: He’ll think himself lucky, no doubt, to arrive, / And discover that Liz has still eyes for him.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 9 Aug. 14/4: There was a conspicuous instance of it on the Block t’other day, when a big-shouldered soldier and a rather narrow-chested dandy walked on either side of a sprightly ‘bit-of-muslin.’ This consequential Miss has all eyes for the narrow youth, and left the ‘hero’ unregarded by her side.
1938		X. Herbert Capricornia (1939) 26: But for her he had no eyes.
1948		New Yorker 3 July 28: Have you eyes for a sandwich?
1952		T. Southern ‘The Night the Bird Blew for Doctor Warner’ in Southern (1973) 55: I got big eyes to get on and just fall out someplace where the cats are blowin’.
1960		Mad mag. Apr. 34: Writers like me got no eyes for all that heavy bread!
1969		N. Spinrad Bug Jack Barron 26: To think this dum-dum has eyes for the White House.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 42: He had eyes for the Fräuleins.
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 87: If you got eyes to cop king-size I’ll git a piece for you.
1997		D.H. Edwards The World Don’t Owe Me Nothing 20: I think before my mother died, my father had eyes on Miss Sue.
1998		‘Bill E. Goodhead’ Nubile Treat 🌐 Roy liked everyone, but he’d always had eyes for his lovely granddaughter Nell. He liked Ned too, but he was absolutely crazy about Nell.
2005		D. Johnson Am I a Good Daddy? 32: [...] their husband should not have eyes for any other woman than their wife.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 15: [H]e didn’t really have eyes for her, or big enough ones, anyway.

2. (also have eyes) to see what is happening.

1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 134: I really got eyes for the street.
1994		T. Willocks Green River Rising 256: He’s got eyes and he knows what this shit is all about.

to have popping eyes.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 371: [...] C.20.

(W.I.) to be covetous for.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

see under sling n.²

see ball n.¹

to be drunk.

1933

‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight 225: Our tippler [...] has his eyes opened.

a threat, commonly used by Billingsgate fishwives.

1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: I will knock out two of your eight eyes; a common Billingsgate threat from one fish nymph to another: every woman, according to the naturalists of that society, having eight eyes; viz. two seeing eyes, two bub-eyes, a bell-eye, two pope’s eyes, and a ***-eye.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

1. (US campus) to perform one’s work well.

1896

W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 18: knock the instructor’s eye out To make a good recitation.

2. (US) of a person, usu. a woman, to be stunningly attractive.

1921		R. Lardner ‘A Frame-Up’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 428: The soup and fish was everywheres, and gals that would knock your eye out.
1949		(con. 1943–5) A. Murphy To Hell and Back (1950) 260: Brunette with a figure that’d knock your eye out.

3. (orig. US) of an object, to delight, to impress.

1902		Ade Forty Modern Fables 69: It became necessary to Knock his Eye out and prove to him that Springfield was strictly In It, they took him up to call on Mazie.
1915		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 113: We have a line of dress suits on sale now that would knock your eye out at the price.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 268: A home with mush an’ milk o’ mornin’s an’ pancakes that ’ud knock yer eye out!
1937		T. Thursday ‘Good Luck is No Good’ in Federal Agent Nov. 🌐 She sits me down to a feed that would have knocked your eyes out.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 294: I’ve dictated a letter of recommendation that’ll knock your eye out.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 148: I got something in the short a knock your eyes out.
1962		H.S. Thompson letter 26 June in Proud Highway (1997) 344: Some of the whores will knock your eyes out.
1976		Cab Calloway Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 134: A perforfmance that would knock your eyes out.
1982		J. Sullivan ‘No Greater Love’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] One day you’d have gone down the roller disco and met some blinding 18-year-old sort who’d have knocked your eyes out.

(W.I.) of two people, to gaze at one another.

1994

P. Baker Blood Posse 297: His eyes made four with mine. [Ibid.] 341: My eyes made four with a blue-eyed white man.

(W.I., Guyn.) to speak disrespectfully to one who ought to be treated respectfully.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

a euph. for attractive breasts, usu. in phr. she’s got a ...

2000

RateMyPicture.com 18 Nov. 🌐 WOW! You really do have a nice pair of ‘eyes’. Sorry I was going to try and not be like the little boys.

a phr. meaning no interest in, or, I’m not interested.

1958		J.C. Holmes Horn 56: I got no eyes for that now.
1960		Mad mag. June 48: Man, he had no eyes to quibble.
1961		R. Russell Sound 192: No, no, man, not my kick. Not kidding. No eyes.

(Aus.) to get the best bits for oneself.

1850		S. Aus. Gaz. (Adelaide) 15 June 3/4: How nicely — in the expressive language of the miners — will the English capitalist pick the eyes out of the land, not taking [...] the good and bad land together, but quietly selecting all the best blocks.
1860		Bendigo Advertiser (Vic.) 8 Mar. 3/2: Mr. Service said it was not intended that selectors should be allowed to pick the eyes out of the best lots in (lie manner supposed.
1871		Sydney Morn. Herald 28 Feb. 3/: They [i.e. squatters] have for years past been engaged in that delightful pastime known as ‘picking the eyes out of the run’.
1882		Newcastle Morn. Herald 15 Aug. 2/3: Who knows better [...] that these very squatters, whom he professes to censure, are picking the eyes out of the country; that in a few years they will have purchased all the valuable lands within it, and that the people's patrimony will be represented by the back blocks and brushland which have no commercial value.
1893		Bendigo Advertiser (Vic.) 6 July 3/5: The Gaiety Company [...] are obliged to leave Australia in little more than a fortnight’s time [...] so we can as it were ‘pick the eyes’ out of the burlesques there is not time to produce, and put the best items of the lot into ‘Faust up to Date’.
1900		Daily Tel. 26 July in Ware (1909) 195/2: It is to be feared that more attention would, naturally, be paid to extracting the richest ore from the mines (‘picking its eyes’, as the popular term is) than to proceeding with the regular course of development.
1913		Grafton Argus (NSW) 7 July 3/1: [I]t would mean that the capitalist would pick the eyes out of the country. The rich man, the business man and the financier would all make a grab for the land, and the poor man [...] would be left out in the cold.
1927		Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) 27 Jan. 5/7: Mr. M'Elhnne condemned as ‘shabby and unfair’ picking the eyes out of the Australian Eleven by offers of lucrative business engagements in England.
1935		Sthn Districts Advocate (Katanning, WA) 30 Sept. 4/3: [...] to permit commercial goods vehicles to compete unfairly with the State railways; and to pick the eyes out of the traffic and leave the railway to carry the unprofitable lines.
1943		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. (2nd edn).

to weep.

1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy IV 81: Who can but in Conscience say, / Fie, fie, for shame away, away, / putting Finger in the Eye, / Till you have a fresh Supply.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Finger To put finger in eye; to weep: commonly applied to women.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) .
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1796].
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

(W.I.) to become obsessed with at first sight and thus to desire to possess immediately.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

1. to look at seductively.

1939		R. Chandler Big Sleep 69: I was having the eye put on me.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 81: ‘Let’s go then,’ says Cass, putting the eye on my Barbara.

2. to examine, to stare at.

1931		D. Runyon ‘The Bloodhounds of Broadway’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 99: Maud is commencing to put the old eye on [...] us.
1958		R. Chandler Playback 23: The girl [...] put the eye on me.

3. to place under surveillance.

1957

C. MacInnes City of Spades (1964) 133: I must cut out of this weed racket soon [...] No one lasts more than three months or so, because the Law puts the eye on you before too long goes by.

a general phr. aimed at an unknown passer-by.

1831		New Sporting Mag. May 120/2: The old one, of ‘There you go with your eye out,’ originated at one of the police offices.
1833		‘There You Are With Your Eye Out’ in Tommarroo Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) IV 342: Queer sayings long in folk’s chat, / You’ll own have had a part in — / As ‘Take a sight,’ — ‘What are you at?’ / ‘The ticket,’ and ‘Betty Martin’. / But now another one’s come up / [...] / ‘Oh, there you go with your eye out’.
1839		Sporting Mag. Nov. 229: Illic vadis cum oculo tuo ex —There you go with your eye out.
1841		Bentley’s Misc. 1 Jan. 41: There you go with your eye out.
1853		Delhi Sketch Bk 1 Sept. 54/1: This mighty King, whenever he walks abroad, all nature exclaims, ‘There he goes with his eye out’.
1854		Bell’s Life in Sydney 21 Oct. 3/3: [He] was saluted with a bit of crust in the ocular, and the remark, ‘there yer goes with yer eye out’.
1860		R.S. Surtees Plain or Ringlets? (1926) 211: The slang cry of ‘There you go with your eye out!’ occurred to his recollection.
1893		Harper’s Mag. 8 July 305/1: These mere catchwords of the moment are rarely foul, as the words and phrases of the first class often are, but they are unfailingly foolish. There you go with your eye out, which was accepted as a humorous remark in London, and where did you get that hat? which had a like fleeting vogue in New York, are phrases as inoffensive as they are flat.

see under dip v.²

addressed to someone who is staring, with the undoubted suggestion that they should stop at once; it can be followed with ‘Want a picture?’.

1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 492/1: since early C.20.
1984		R. Newman Case of the Baker Street Irregular 19: ‘Got your eye full?’ she asked aggressively. ‘I beg your pardon?’ ‘Who you staring at?’.
2008		C. Bradley Pretender 37: Her gaze didn’t waver. ‘Got your eye full?’ Simon snarled.

be careful! look out!

1834		Carlisle Jrnl 6 Dec. 4/7: Wellingtons — Wellingtons! cheap I cry, / Portugee devils — mind your eye!
1837		London Dispatch 5 Mar. 8/1: [headline] Mind Your Eye!
1847		Morn. Post (London) 19 Oct. 5/3: He called to his sister [...] ‘Mind your eye or I’ll shoot you’.
1859		‘Timothy Titcomb’ Letters to Young People 141: If a young man should ‘kind o’ shine up to you,’ and you should ‘cotton to him,’ and he should hear you say [...] ‘mind your eye,’ [...] he would pretty certainly ‘evaporate’.
1862		Leics. Mercury 3 May 2/3: King of Prussia, mind your eye, / Rukle not with a hand too high / or you’ll be obliged to fly.
1874		‘English Sl.’ in Eve. Telegram (N.Y.) 9 Dec. 1/5: Let us present a few specimens:– [...] ‘Mind your eye’.
1878		Gloucester Citizen 30 Aug. 4/1: So now, you who intend to go to Cyprus, mind your eye!
1886		Devizes & Wilts Gaz. 21 Oct. 4/6: On the night before the murder he passed her house, and [...] fired a pistol, with the remark ‘Mind your eye’.
1893		Lichfield Mercury 17 Feb. 3/6: Policeman: Here, mind your eye, youngster.
c.1900		‘Heenan and Sayers’ in F. Rickaby Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy (1926) 179: So whenever you boast of fighting, Johnnie Bull, mind your eye.
1915		Burnley News 9 Jan. 11/1: Blizzards loudly roar [...] / In voices loud and deep and shrill, / You’ll hear the cry to mind your eye.

see separate entry.

an all-purpose excl. aimed at passers-by.

1836		Comic Almanack ‘Slangology’ Jan. 43: I declare there he goes with his eye out-staring everybody.
1841		C. Mackay Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions (1869) 242: The next phrase was a most preposterous one. Who invented it, how it arose, or where it was first heard, are alike unknown. nothing about it is certain, but that for months it was the slang par excellence of the Londoners, and afforded them a vast gratification. ‘There he goes with his eye out!’ or ‘There she goes with her eye out!’ [...] was in the mouth of every body who knew the town. The sober part of the community were as much puzzled by this unaccountable saying as the vulgar were delighted with it. The wise thought it very foolish, but the many thought it very funny, and the idle amused themselves by chalking it upon walls, or scribbling it upon monuments.
1893		(con. 1830s) H. Vizetelly Glances back 103: No end of unmeaning slang phrases [...] were in circulation liming the multitude and the ‘faster’ section of society. One’s ears were incessantly assailed with such cries as ‘What a shocking bad hat!’ ‘There he goes with his eye out!’ ‘How are you off for soap?’ Flare up! and join the union,’ ‘Does your mother know you're out?’ or ‘It’s all very fine, Mr. Fergusson, but you don't lodge here.’.