to cry one's eyes out
7
4.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
llorar a mares
- After the breakup, she spent the night in her room, crying her eyes out until dawn.
- Mom cried her eyes out
- Mother cried her eyes out
Examples
-
And you were crying your eyes out.
Blog text (16) -
Did they cry their eyes out when you left Moscow?
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I cry my eyes out every single time I see it.
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I had a place where I used to go and cry my eyes out.
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Look at mother... crying her eyes out.
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No, she was crying her eyes out.
Fiction book (2001) -
Bet she's alone in her room, crying her eyes out.
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I bet she's crying her eyes out.
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Amber leans against a wall, crying her eyes out.
Fiction book (1997) -
That little girl's in there crying her eyes out 'cause she didn't want to disappoint you.
Synonyms
208
1.1
To cry and let tears fall because you feel sad or have strong feelings
39
5.9
Cry or shout loudly and without control
15
1.0
To cry with short, noisy breaths
3
7.6
Cry very loudly and for a long time
1
7.5
To feel sad and complain to others
To cry loudly because you feel upset or hurt
Antonyms
How Intense
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'cry' combined with body part 'eyes' and particle 'out' creates a vivid, hyperbolic image of crying so much that the eyes are metaphorically expelled; a B1 learner who knows the constituents can fairly readily infer this means to cry very intensely. However the expression is figurative rather than strictly compositional (the eyes are not literally coming out), so the connection is predictable but relies on recognizing exaggeration.
Etymology
The idiom cry one's eyes out paints a strong picture: the words cry, eyes, and out make us imagine someone crying so hard their eyes seem to fall out of their face. That's why it means 'to cry very much, usually because you are very sad'.