private eye
24
4.2
- noun
- /ˈpraɪvɪt aɪ/
- Informal
:
detective privado
- Julia hired a private eye to help find her missing cat after the local police couldn't assist.
- hired a private eye
- private eye novels
- detective turned private eye
Examples
-
You know something, Joe, for a private eye, you sure don't go in for snappy comebacks.
Fiction book (1991) -
Dell disappeared again, and Aunt Rootie hired a private eye to find him.
Fiction book (1990) -
- Well maybe I could put a private eye on it.
-
- What are you a private eye for, anyway?
-
- He told me to hire a private eye.
-
When he retired, he became a private eye here.
-
You still determined to be a private eye?
-
The story concerns Jake Scarne, a New York private eye with military and police experience.
Blog text (29) -
Josh whispered, "I always thought it would be exciting to be a policeman or a private eye."
Fiction book (1993) -
I got a former N.Y.P.D. detective-turned private eye at a fund-raiser for the mayor.
Synonyms
∞
2.7
A police officer who investigates crimes and finds out what happened
64
3.7
A person hired to find facts about crimes or private matters who is not a police officer
30
3.4
A person who is not a police officer and is paid to investigate crimes
13
3.7
A person hired to find missing people or information
5
8.4
A detective who works quietly and follows people to find facts
4
8.8
A person hired to find facts or solve crimes for paying clients
2
9.9
A person paid to find information about crimes or people
A private detective hired to find information for people or businesses
How Formal
64
3.7
30
3.4
- Informal
24
4.2
- Archaic
4
8.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'private detective' is partially derivable from 'private' (not public) + 'eye' (observer), so learners can get the general idea of a non-public watcher or investigator. However, using 'eye' to mean 'person who investigates' is a metaphorical, conventionalized use and the exact occupational sense is a fixed idiom, so it's not fully predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Private eye may come from a simple picture: a person hired to watch quietly. The word private shows they are not police and eye stands for someone who looks for clues, so the name came to mean 'a private detective'.