21 PHRASE If you keep your eyes open or keep an eye out for someone or something, you watch for them carefully. [INFORMAL ] □ I ask the mounted patrol to keep their eyes open. □ You and your friends keep an eye out–if there's any trouble we'll make a break for it. [Also + for ]
22 PHRASE If you keep an eye on something or someone, you watch them carefully, for example to make sure that they are satisfactory or safe, or not causing trouble. □ I'm sure you will appreciate that we must keep a careful eye on all our running costs. □ I went for a run there, keeping an eye on the children the whole time.
23 PHRASE You say ' there's more to this than meets the eye ' when you think a situation is not as simple as it seems to be. □ This whole business is very puzzling. There is a lot more to it than meets the eye.
24 PHRASE If something, especially something surprising or impressive, meets your eyes , you see it. □ The first sight that met my eyes on reaching the front door was the church enveloped in flames.
25 PHRASE If you say that all eyes are on something or that the eyes of the world are on something, you mean that everyone is paying careful attention to it and what will happen. [JOURNALISM ] □ All eyes will be on tomorrow's vote. □ The eyes of the world were now on the police.
26 PHRASE If someone has their eye on you, they are watching you carefully to see what you do. □ As the boat plodded into British waters and up the English Channel, Customs had their eye on her.
27 PHRASE If you have your eye on something, you want to have it. [INFORMAL ] □ …if you're saving up for a new outfit you've had your eye on.
28 PHRASE If you say that you did something with your eyes open or with your eyes wide open , you mean that you knew about the problems and difficulties that you were likely to have. □ We want all our members to undertake this trip responsibly, with their eyes open.
29 PHRASE If something opens your eyes , it makes you aware that something is different from the way that you thought it was. □ Watching your child explore the world about her can open your eyes to delights long forgotten.
30 PHRASE If you see eye to eye with someone, you agree with them and have the same opinions and views. □ [+ with ] Yuriko saw eye to eye with Yul on almost every aspect of the production.
31 PHRASE When you take your eyes off the thing you have been watching or looking at, you stop looking at it. □ She took her eyes off the road to glance at me.
32 PHRASE If someone sees or considers something through your eyes , they consider it in the way that you do, from your point of view. □ She tried to see things through his eyes.
33 PHRASE If you say that you are up to your eyes in something, you are emphasizing that you have a lot of it to deal with, and often that you are very busy. [INFORMAL , EMPHASIS ] □ I am up to my eyes in work.
34 the apple of your eye → see apple
35 to turn a blind eye → see blind
36 to feast your eyes → see feast
37 in your mind's eye → see mind ➊
38 the naked eye → see naked
39 to pull the wool over someone's eyes → see wool
▸ eye up PHRASAL VERB If someone eyes you up , they look at you in a way that shows they consider you attractive. [BRIT , INFORMAL ] □ [V P n] …a slob who eyes up the women and makes lewd comments. □ [V n P ] The women sit in the corner and men eye them up.
eye|ball /a I bɔːl/ (eyeballs , eyeballing , eyeballed )
1 N‑COUNT Your eyeballs are your whole eyes, rather than just the part which can be seen between your eyelids.
2 VERB If you eyeball someone or something, you stare at them. [INFORMAL ] □ [V n] The guard eyeballed him pretty hard despite his pass.
3 PHRASE If you are eyeball to eyeball with someone, you are in their presence and involved in a meeting, dispute, or contest with them. You can also talk about having an eyeball to eyeball meeting or confrontation. [INFORMAL ] □ …proposals that the two armies end their eyeball to eyeball confrontation and withdraw.
4 PHRASE You use up to the eyeballs to emphasize that someone is in an undesirable state to a very great degree. [INFORMAL , EMPHASIS ] □ He is out of a job and up to his eyeballs in debt.
eye|brow /a I braʊ/ (eyebrows )
1 N‑COUNT [usu pl, oft poss N ] Your eyebrows are the lines of hair which grow above your eyes.
2 PHRASE If something causes you to raise an eyebrow or to raise your eyebrows , it causes you to feel surprised or disapproving. □ An intriguing item on the news pages caused me to raise an eyebrow over my morning coffee.
eye ca n|dy also eye-candy N‑UNCOUNT Eye candy is used to refer to people or things that are attractive to look at but are not interesting in other ways. [INFORMAL ] □ Forget the acting, just look at the eye candy. □ Animation has stopped being eye-candy for kids and become mainstream entertainment.
ey e -catching ADJ Something that is eye-catching is very noticeable. □ …a series of eye-catching ads.
-eyed /-a I d/ COMB -eyed combines with adjectives to form adjectives which indicate the colour, shape, or size of a person's eyes, or indicate the kind of expression that they have. □ …a blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl. □ She watched open-eyed as the plane took off.