to give someone the eye
5
8.1
- phrasal verb
- NSFW
- It was clear that he was giving me the eye, and I didn't know how to respond.
Examples
-
I noticed her giving someone the eye from across the room, which made me blush.
-
A real winner, this guy; we give each other the eye, but the people next to us don't even notice; they carry on their conversation: no one understood a thing, no one heard anything.
Fiction book (2002) -
"Manager," he said crisply, and caught Dottie poking her head out of 27 where her cart was parked to give him the eye.
Fiction book (1995) -
He means, a real winner this guy. We give each other the eye, but the people next to us don't even notice; they carry on their conversation: no one understood a thing, no one heard anything. "Those aren't Hungarians," says Pieter all of a sudden, "but we are."
Fiction book (2002) -
When he walked in, I could tell she was giving him the eye with interest.
Synonyms
80
4.8
To look closely at someone with interest
37
5.6
To close one eye briefly to show playful interest
5
7.4
To look at a person or thing with interest
1
9.9
Look at someone to show romantic or sexual interest
1
7.7
To look at someone with interest to judge or admire them
To look at someone in a way that shows sexual interest as if they have no clothes
Antonyms
How Flirtatious
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is partially compositional: a learner who knows 'give' and 'eye' can plausibly infer 'give someone the eye' means 'give someone a look' (i.e. to look at them). However, the specific pragmatic sense of signaling romantic/sexual interest is conventionalized and not fully predictable from the words alone, so a B1 learner might miss or under-specify that nuance.
Etymology
Give someone the eye comes from the simple act of sending a clear, meaningful look: you give your eye to someone across a room to show you are interested. So, it now means 'to look at someone in a way that shows romantic or sexual interest'.