eyeball

See also: eye-ball

English

Alternative forms

• eye-ball (obsolete)

Etymology

From eye +‎ ball. Compare Middle English balle off the eye, balle of þe eyȝe (“eyeball”, literally “ball of the eye”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Noun

eyeball (plural eyeballs)

1. The ball of the eye.
   • 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Go, make thyself like a nymph o' th' sea.
     Be subject to no sight but thine and mine, invisible
     To every eyeball else. Go, take this shape,
     And hither come in't; go! Hence, with diligence!

2. A person's focus of attention.
3. (marketing, in the plural) A readership or viewership.

   We need compelling content for the new Web site so we can attract more eyeballs.

4. (CB radio, slang) A face-to-face meeting.

   We had an eyeball last year.

5. (Caribbean) A favourite or pet; the apple of someone's eye.

Synonyms

• eye-apple

Derived terms

• eyeball to eyeball
• given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow
• hairy eyeball
• up to one's eyeballs

 

Translations

ball of the eye

• Afrikaans: oogappel
• Arabic: مُقْلَة اَلْعَيْن‎ f (muqlat al-ʿayn)
• 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
• Italian: bulbo oculare m
• Japanese: 眼球 (がんきゅう, gankyū), 目玉 (ja) (めだま, medama)
• Khmer: គ្រាប់ភ្នែក (kroap pnɛɛk)
• Korean: 눈알 (ko) (nunal), 안구(眼球) (ko) (an'gu)
• 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
• 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)
• Turkish: göz yuvan, göz küresi (tr), göz yuvarı (tr)
• Ukrainian: о́чне я́блуко n (óčne jábluko)
• Vietnamese: cầu mắt, 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 (xarax mökünüge)
• Yiddish: אויגעפּל‎ m (oygepl), ויגן־אַפּל‎ n (oygn-apl)
• Zhuang: ngveihda

Verb

eyeball (third-person singular simple present eyeballs, present participle eyeballing, simple past and past participle eyeballed)

1. (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.

2. (transitive, informal) To scrutinize.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

3. (transitive, informal) To stare at intently.

   Are you eyeballing my girl?

4. (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)‎^[1]:

     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

• eyeballer

Translations

to judge by eye

• Finnish: arvioida silmämääräisesti
• French: évaluer à vue de nez, évaluer au pif, faire à la louche

• German: nach Augenmaß abschätzen, nach Augenmaß abmessen, nach Augenmaß hinzugeben, nach Augenmaß hinzufügen
• Greek: κόβω με το βλέμμα (kóvo me to vlémma), κοζάρω (el) (kozáro)
• Polish: mierzyć na oko

to scrutinize — see scrutinize

to stare — see stare

See also

• bums in seats
• click-through