👀 Big round eyes 🚗 Car with big lights ⛵ Sailing vessel

bugeye

9.0

A car with large, round headlights that look like eyes

noun
/ˈbjuːɡaɪ/

: coche bugeye

The vintage car had distinctive bugeye headlights that caught everyone's attention.

Examples

I started out in a Bugeye Sprite, 948 thrashing cc's, 43 HP.

Blog text (28)
We took a scenic drive in the bugeye with its prominent, round lights illuminating the road ahead.
He restored an old bugeye model, famous for its unique front-end design.

Synonyms

bug-eye

vsbugeye

7.4

A person or object with big eyes that stick out, like a car headlight

refers specifically to a boat or vehicle with those prominent features

Antonyms

plain

208 1.0

Simple and not decorated or flavored

unremarkable

20 3.5

Being ordinary and not interesting

Surface Forms

bugeye singular

bugeyes plural

Morphology

bugeye = bug + eye (transparent) = bug + eye

The noun is a metaphorical/derivative compound referring to eye-like features (e.g., large headlights); the compound structure makes the metaphor clear to learners.

Etymology

Bugeye comes from bug + eye, meaning 'insect eye', and was used as a nickname for cars or vehicles with big, round headlights that look like a bug's eyes. That's why a bugeye vehicle is known for its large, eye-like lights or front features.