eyecupful

English

Etymology

From eyecup +‎ -ful.

Noun

eyecupful (plural eyecupfuls)

1. The amount that an eyecup can hold.

   Synonym: eyebathful

   • 1916 January, O[toman] Z[ar-Adusht] H[a’nish], “Season Hints”, in Mazdaznan, volume 15, number 1, Los Angeles, Calif.: Mazdaznan Press, page 16:

     In eye troubles, however, the California Fluid Extract of Eucalyptus works miracles and should be used as a frequent eyewash, two drops of the fluid to an eyecupful of warm water.

   • 1919 March 8, Charles E. Van Loan, “The Hasher”, in The Saturday Evening Post, volume 191, number 36, Philadelphia, Pa.: Curtis Publishing Company, page 5, column 2:

     Do you think anybody with an eyecupful of brains would stay here if he could get away?

   • 1927 June 5, Viola Paris, “Beauty and You: Do You Make the Most of Your Eyes?”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., section “The Eyes Themselves Are Most Important”, page 8, column 4:

     Cleanse the eyes with clear water in an eyecup; or use a boric acid solution, or a few grains of salt added to the eyecupful of cold water.

   • 1934 March, Alexander Woollcott, “How to Go to Japan”, in While Rome Burns, New York, N.Y.: While Rome Burns, published August 1936, section “Your Correspondent”, page 262:

     I had just finished the first appetizing eyecupful of wine when my waitress took the stopper out of the decanter and, with the prettiest gesture imaginable, asked me if I would have some more.

   • 1936 September, “The Gentlemen of Japan”, in Fortune, page 59:

     They drink quantities of beer and also their own sake (rice wine) taken in eyecupfuls, thirty or forty of which will produce one of the pleasantest suspensions in the realm of alcohol.

   • 1946, Lelord Kordel, Health: The Easy Way, New York, N.Y.: Arden Book Company, page 265:

     Another good eye wash is made by adding two or three drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice to a small eye[-]cupful of distilled water.

   • 1948 November 4, Tom Campbell, “Quebec-Labrador-Canada’s Iron Ore Jackpot”, in The Iron Age, volume 162, number 19, page 158, column 3:

     If someone forgets to think fast and brings in a bottle the average drink he will get out of a 40 oz quart will be an eyecupful.

   • 1953 November 11, Glen R. Shepherd, “The Doctor’s Notebook: Treating Eye Injuries”, in St. Louis Post-Dispatch, volume 106, number 38, St. Louis, Mo., page 6D:

     And her mother just washed her face and used an eyecupful of water on the smarting eye.

   • 1961, John O’Hara, “A Case History”, in Assembly, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →LCCN, page 412:

     “But what there is is for me, isn’t it?” “Yes. All of it. A nasty little eyecupful of love, according to you.”

   • 1964 December 27, Jim Murray, “Hardwood Horrors”, in Sunday Courier and Press, volume 26, number 52, Evansville, Ind., section “Bleeding Stops—Just in Time”, pages three—C:

     His roommate, Jerry West, comforted him by reminding him you can lose two quarts of blood and still live. When it finally stopped, Rudy figured he was within one eyecupful of the jackpot.

   • 1972, Peter J. Robotti, Frances D. Robotti, “The Service and Care of Wine and Spirits”, in Key to Gracious Living: Wine and Spirits, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., →ISBN, page 308:

     When you ask for a caña or a chato in Seville, you will get a glass of Sherry, not an eyecupful.

   • 1972, Erwin Di Cyan, Lawrence Hessman, “Eye, Ear, Nose, Throat—and Mouth”, in Without Prescription: A Guide to the Selection and Use of Medicines You Can Get Over-the-Counter Without Prescription, for Safe Self-Medication, New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, section “Eye”, page 128:

     Eye washes, using an eyecupful to wash the eye, are also available; […]

   • 1976 March 1, Brendan Gill, “The Theatre: Trashing the Bard”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: The New Yorker Magazine, Inc., page 76, columns 1–2:

     Like most directors of musical comedies when they are faced with a Grand Canyon of an occasion and a mere eyecupful of content, Mr. Champion chose to fall back upon overproducing the show, in the conventional vain hope that audiences can be seduced into mistaking distraction for entertainment.

   • 1977, Howard H. Hirschhorn, “Alleviating Eye Pain”, in Pain-Free Living: How to Prevent and Eliminate Pain All Over the Body, West Nyack, N.Y.: Parker Publishing Company, Inc., →ISBN, section “Removing foreign particles from the eyes”, page 47:

     If these maneuvers don’t work, flood the eye with an eyecupful of slightly warm water.