Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The globe-shaped portion of the eye surrounded by the socket and covered externally by the eyelids.
  • noun The eye itself.
  • noun An overhead light fixture that is mounted on a swivel in a recessed socket so the light can be directed in any direction.
  • transitive verb To look over carefully; scrutinize.
  • transitive verb To measure or estimate roughly by sight.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The ball or globe of the eye; the globus oculi: so called from its globular or spherical shape, as in man and many other animals.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The ball or globe of the eye.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the ball of the eye
  • verb To gauge, estimate or judge by eye; to look or glance at.
  • verb To scrutinize

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the ball-shaped capsule containing the vertebrate eye
  • verb look at

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From eye +‎ ball.

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Examples

  • The razor across the eyeball is a detail from an old film.

    To See Clearly « So Many Books 2004

  • I mean, explaining how the Q-tip ended up in his eyeball is going to be hard to explain at the emergency room.

    And, the condoms are to keep my fingers warm « Lab Kat 2009

  • I just dont knowI call him ole iron eye now, .. yuk yuk cause if you catch it just right in just the right light the lenz reflects makes him look like his eyeball is steel.,.

    Where the Metal Meets the Meat 2008

  • Every eyeball is hers; every hat is hers; every neck is perfect for throttling, precious, and all done without emotion, to provoke emotion.

    Rebel Angel | Her Bad Mother 2008

  • I got a very flattering comment over on the forums today: a male reader who picked up CARDINAL RULE because it'd been mis-shelved in mystery read the back cover, most of the first chapter, then went and bought it despite getting the hairy eyeball from the female bookseller because he was buying a Silhouette book.

    bestselling kit madmiss 2006

  • THE EYEBALL The human eye, which is just about an inch in diameter, is very nearly a sphere in shape, so the expression eyeball for the eye as a physical structure is quite apt.

    The Human Brain Asimov, Isaac 1963

  • It’s as though they are trying to maintain eyeball market share or something, by burying the lede.

    Matthew Yglesias » Obama, Entitlements, and Health Care 2009

  • Or whatever they call the eyeball-stabbing graphics that dominate the site.

    Managing the Social Network raecarson 2009

  • The eyeball was a few feet away, staring at the late chocolate lab from under a bush.

    Short Story: "Disarmed" 2009

  • If you look carefully, it looks like the eyeball is a foil covered chocolate that I see all the time this time of year.

    RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!! Jen 2008

Comments

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  • Eyeball and Apple are apparently synonyms, although I'm not sure I see how they got to be that way ;)

    June 9, 2009

  • face-to-face meeting for a ham

    August 19, 2009

  • The words eye and ball were already in the English language, but Shakespeare was the first to put them together.

    A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scene 2:

    "make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight."

    September 2, 2009