plat-eye

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From plat, a term of unknown origin, plus eye. Attested from the 19th century. Originally African-American, especially South Carolina.

Noun[edit]

plat-eye (plural plat-eyes)

  1. A mythical monster or ghost in the folklore of the West Indies and southern United States; it is a being with large, glowing eyes, capable of shapeshifting and sometimes depicted as a phantom bound to a particular place, such as a cave or grove, as a guardian (for buried treasure, etc).
    • 1985, Charles Joyner, quoting Maum Addie, interviewed by Genevieve Willcox Chandler c. 1938, Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community, page 152:
      De ole folks is talk bout Plat-eye. Dey say dey takes shape ob all kind de critter

References[edit]