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eyeball. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
eyeball, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
eyeball in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
eyeball you have here. The definition of the word
eyeball will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
eyeball, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From eye + ball. Compare Middle English balle off the eye, balle of þe eyȝe (“eyeball”, literally “ball of the eye”).
Pronunciation
Noun
eyeball (plural eyeballs)
- The ball of the eye.
1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 4, column 2:Goe make thy ſelfe like a Nymph o' th' Sea.
Be ſubiect to no ſight but thine, and mine: inuisible
To euery eye-ball elſe: goe take this ſhape,
And hither come in't: goe: hence
With diligence.
- A person's focus of attention. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- (informal) Surveillance.
2016, Marie Breen-Smyth, The Ashgate Research Companion to Political Violence, page 384:Intelligence work is necessarily limited in scope by the capacity of national surveillance systems. […] Ultimately, it is only when you have an 'eyeball' or the electronic equivalent on a suspect that you have a reasonable chance of a preventive intervention.
- (marketing, in the plural) A readership or viewership.
We need compelling content for the new Web site so we can attract more eyeballs.
2022 October 17, Stuart Heritage, “Now it’s over, let’s come out and say it: The Rings of Power was a stinker”, in The Guardian:When The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuted at the same time as House of the Dragon, much noise was made about which show attracted more eyeballs.
- (CB radio, slang) A face-to-face meeting.
We had an eyeball last year.
- (Caribbean) A favourite or pet; the apple of someone's eye.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
ball of the eye
- Afrikaans: oogappel
- Arabic: مُقْلَة اَلْعَيْن f (muqlat al-ʕayn)
- Armenian: ակնախնձոր (hy) (aknaxnjor)
- Belarusian: во́чны я́блык m (vóčny jáblyk)
- Bulgarian: о́чна я́бълка f (óčna jábǎlka)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 眼球 (zh) (yǎnqiú), 睛球 (jīngqiú), 眼珠 (zh) (yǎnzhū)
- Classical Nahuatl: īxtelolohtli
- Cornish: aval lagas m
- Czech: oční bulva f
- Danish: øjeæble n
- Dutch: oogappel (nl) m
- Esperanto: okulglobo
- Estonian: silmamuna
- Faroese: eygnasteinur m, eygnaknøttur m
- Finnish: silmämuna (fi)
- French: globe oculaire (fr) m
- Georgian: თვალის კაკალი (tvalis ḳaḳali)
- German: Augapfel (de) m
- Greek: βολβός του ματιού (volvós tou matioú), βολβός του οφθαλμού m (volvós tou ofthalmoú)
- Ancient: γλήνη f (glḗnē)
- Haitian Creole: boul je
- Hebrew: גַּלְגַּל עַיִן m (galgál-áyin)
- Hungarian: szemgolyó (hu)
- Icelandic: augnknöttur m, auga (is) n
- Ingrian: silmämuna
- Italian: bulbo oculare m
- Japanese: 眼球 (ja) (がんきゅう, gankyū), 目玉 (ja) (めだま, medama)
- Jeju: 눈깔이 (nunkkari), 눈께알이 (nunkkeari) (dialectal)
- Khmer: គ្រាប់ភ្នែក (kroap pnɛɛk)
- Korean: 눈알 (ko) (nunal), 안구(眼球) (ko) (an'gu), 눈깔 (ko) (nunkkal) (slang)
- Latin: bulbus oculi m
- Latvian: acs ābols m
- Macedonian: о́чно ја́болко n (óčno jábolko)
- Manx: clagh-hooilley f
- Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
- Nepali: आँखाको गेडी (ā̃khāko geḍī)
- Norman: balle dé l'yi f
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: øyeeple n
- Nynorsk: augeeple n
- Old English: ēaġæppel m
- Polish: gałka oczna (pl) f
- Portuguese: globo ocular (pt) m
- Romanian: glob ocular (ro) n, globul ochiului (ro) n
- Russian: глазно́е я́блоко (ru) n (glaznóje jábloko)
- Scottish Gaelic: clach na sùla f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: очна јабучица f
- Roman: očna jabučica f
- Slovak: očná buľva f
- Slovene: zrklo (sl) n
- Spanish: globo ocular m
- Swedish: ögonglob c
- Tagalog: buliga, bilumata
- Telugu: కనుగుడ్డు (te) (kanuguḍḍu)
- Thai: ลูกตา
- Tibetan: མིག་རིལ (mig ril), སྤྱན་འབྲས (spyan 'bras, literally “fruit of the eye”) (honorific)
- Turkish: göz yuvan, göz küresi (tr), göz yuvarı (tr)
- Ukrainian: о́чне я́блуко n (óčne jábluko)
- Vietnamese: cầu mắt (vi), nhãn cầu (vi)
- Volapük: logaglöp (vo)
- Welsh: pelen y llygad f, cannwyll llygad f
- White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
- Yakut: харах мөкүнүгэ (qaraq mökünüge)
- Yiddish: אויגעפּל m (oygepl), ויגן־אַפּל n (oygn-apl), אַפּל m (apl), פּופּילע (pupile), שוואַרצאַפּל (shvartsapl), אויגנשוואַרצל (oygnshvartsl), אויגנאַפּל (oygnapl), אויגאַפּל (oygapl), שוואַרצל (shvartsl), קליין מענטשעלע (kleyn mentshele), קליין־מענטשעלע (kleyn-mentshele)
- Yoruba: ẹyinjú, ọmọ-ojú
- Zhuang: ngveihda
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Verb
eyeball (third-person singular simple present eyeballs, present participle eyeballing, simple past and past participle eyeballed)
- (transitive, informal) To gauge, estimate or judge by eye, rather than measuring precisely; to look or glance at.
A good cook can often just eyeball the correct quantities of ingredients.
Each geometric construction must be exact; eyeballing it and getting close does not count.
- (transitive, informal) To stare at intently.
- Are you eyeballing my girl?
- (intransitive) To roll one's eyes.
2018 April 10, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London):Guardiola strode on to the pitch at half-time to remonstrate with the Spanish referee, Antonio Mateu Lahoz, but went too far with his eyeballing and matador-like hand movements. He was “upstairs”, in the Colin Bell stand, to watch Liverpool’s second-half turnaround and a dismal seven days for City take another turn for the worse.
Derived terms
Translations
See also