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.
   • 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I Scene 2

     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 (めだま, medama)
• Khmer: គ្រាប់ភ្នែក (kroap pnɛɛk)
• Korean: 눈알 (ko) (nunal), 안구 (ko) (an'gu) (眼球 (ko))
• 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
• 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)
• 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), ױגן־אַפּל‎ n (oygn-apl)
• Zhuang: ngveihda

Verb

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

1. 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. To scrutinize
3. To stare at intently

   Are you eyeballing my girl?

4. 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

• Greek: κόβω με το βλέμμα (kóvo me to vlémma), κοζάρω (el) (kozáro)
• Polish: mierzyć na oko

to scrutinize

• Bulgarian: разглеждам (bg) (razgleždam)
• Greek: περιεργάζομαι (el) (periergázomai), κοιτάω από πάνω μέχρι κάτω (koitáo apó páno méchri káto)

See also

• bums in seats
• click-through