eye

Meanings

Noun

• An organ through which animals see (perceive surroundings via light).
• The visual sense.
• The iris of the eye, being of a specified colour.
• Attention, notice.
• The ability to notice what others might miss.
• A meaningful stare or look.
• A private eye: a privately hired detective or investigator.
• A hole at the blunt end of a needle through which thread is passed.
• The oval hole of an axehead through which the axehandle is fitted.
• A fitting consisting of a loop of metal or other material, suitable for receiving a hook or the passage of a cord or line.
• The relatively clear and calm center of a hurricane or other cyclonic storm.
• A mark on an animal, such as a peacock or butterfly, resembling a human eye.
• The dark spot on a black-eyed pea.
• A reproductive bud in a potato.
• The dark brown center of a black-eyed Susan flower.
• A loop forming part of anything, or a hole through anything, to receive a rope, hook, pin, shaft, etc. — e.g. at the end of a tie bar in a bridge truss; through a crank; at the end of a rope; or through a millstone.
• That which resembles the eye in relative importance or beauty.
• Tinge; shade of colour.
• One of the holes in certain kinds of cheese.
• The circle in the centre of a volute.
• The enclosed counter (negative space) of the small letter e.
• An empty point or group of points surrounded by one player's stones.
• View or opinion.
• A brood.

Verb

• To carefully or appraisingly observe (someone or something).
• To appear; to look.

Origin

• From Middle English eye, eie, yë, eighe, eyghe, yȝe, eyȝe, from Old English ēage, from Proto-West Germanic *augā, from Proto-Germanic *augô (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-.
• See also Latin oculus (whence English oculus), Lithuanian akìs, Old Church Slavonic око, Albanian sy, Ancient Greek ὀφθαλμός ("eye"), Armenian ակն, Avestan 𐬀𐬱𐬌, Sanskrit अक्षि. Related to ogle.
• The uncommon plural form eyen is from Middle English eyen, from Old English ēagan, nominative and accusative plural of Old English ēage.
• Probably from rebracketing of a nye as an eye.