electric eye
1
5.3
- noun
- Specialized
:
ojo eléctrico
- The electric eye in the automatic soap dispenser activates when you hold your hand underneath it.
Examples
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So many of you have seen a one of those electric eye garage door openers, right?
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This is a twelve-dollar, battery-operated (4 AA) soap pump fitted with an electric eye, so it spits out soap when you pass your hand under the nozzle.
Blog text (4) -
The security system uses an electric eye to detect any movement near the entrance.
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You need to position the electric eye so it can accurately measure the light levels in the room.
Synonyms
2
6.2
A device that senses light and makes an electric signal
1
9.4
A small glowing tube that shows signal strength on old radios
1
8.1
A small device that lets more electricity pass when light hits it
A device that makes a small electric signal when light hits it to detect or measure light
How Sensitive
- Specialized
1
9.4
- Specialized
1
5.3
- Specialized
1
6.6
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
electric + eye
The meaning is directly inferable from combining 'electric' (powered by electricity) with 'eye' (an organ that sees) to denote an electrically powered sensing device; the metaphorical use of 'eye' to mean a detector/sensor is common and follows a transparent compositional pattern. A B1 learner who knows both words would very likely guess this refers to an electronic sensor that detects light or movement.
Etymology
Electric eye comes from early machines that used electricity to 'see' light like a human eye, so people talked about an electric eye. That's why the name means 'a device that detects light or motion' today.