Definitions

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

  • adjective Ever vigilant.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Greek mythological figure Argus.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word argus-eyed.

Examples

  • I prefer to be good because it is good to be good, rather than because I can't be bad because some argus-eyed old frump won't let me have a chance to be bad.

    Chapter 13 2010

  • He's managed to run a presidential campaign -- he hopes the Dems will nominate Edwards and the GOP Thompson, so he can have the center all to himself in running as a self-financed independent -- without arousing the slightest bit of skepticism from the argus-eyed national press.

    Fred Siegel: Michael Bloomberg is Still Not Running for President 2008

  • For further knowledge, the public must be thankful that the argus-eyed tourist has not left the place unnoticed, and that the mathematically-inclined gazetteer has told us from time to time the number of Cleveland's churches, banks, and city councilmen, and other equally important facts!

    The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 5, May, 1884 Various

  • The one is sagacious, argus-eyed; the other oracular, sibylline.

    The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy Various

  • The volume being by no means yet relegated to oblivion's dusty shelves I am naturally reluctant to refer to it with such particularity as might enable my argus-eyed reader to identify it and my own unworthy share therein, and therefore in the following dialogue, typical of many between the author and myself, I disguise her name under an initial.

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, August 25th, 1920 Various

  • Indeed, when we remember the argus-eyed hatred with which the French priesthood is watched by the anti-clerical party, and the few scandals that appear in the public prints only too anxious to give publicity to them, this unimpeachable testimony is borne out by fact.

    The Power of Womanhood, or Mothers and Sons A Book For Parents, And Those In Loco Parentis Ellice Hopkins

  • Ruth passed Mrs. Bowers's argus-eyed bay window, as did Shelby, and Mrs. Grundy had her speculative pickings of the event.

    The Henchman Mark Lee Luther

  • Generally, they pick up the essentials of the game from "Pop" long before they get to school or college or else are properly educated by an argus-eyed brother.

    Football Days Memories of the Game and of the Men behind the Ball William Hanford Edwards

  • She had rehearsed that little speech over and over on her way to school; but, as usual, when she came to say it to this argus-eyed teacher, she juggled her pronouns so thoroughly that no one could have been sure just what she did mean.

    The Lilac Lady Ruth Alberta Brown

  • Even in the capital the progress of the new doctrines could not be hidden; but so carefully had the veil of secrecy been drawn over the conventicles, that, until a short time before Henry's death, the names and residences of the Parisian reformers had been almost entirely unknown to the argus-eyed clergy.

    The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2) Henry Martyn Baird

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.