to give (someone) the eye
3
8.4
- idiom
:
mirar con interés
- You're out on a date, and some woman is giving him the eye and trying to signal him from the bar.
Examples
-
She's been giving me the eye.
Fiction book (2001) -
As soon as she walked into the room, I noticed him giving me the eye from across the table.
-
No, no, you saw she was giving me the eye.
-
Cute little number at the next table was giving this one the eye.
-
Good Lord, is it me, or is every woman over 50 giving you the eye?
-
One of them has been giving me the eye every day.
Blog text (31) -
I think she's giving me the eye.
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I saw Greeny giving you the eye.
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Did you notice Doris Robinson giving you the eye?
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A number of the women, looking like her in cotton-candy hair and tight dresses, gave me the eye as I cruised by.
Fiction book (1995)
Synonyms
152
4.8
To look closely at someone with interest
54
1.0
To close and open one eye quickly to signal or greet someone
4
5.6
To close one eye briefly to show playful interest
1
7.4
To look at a person or thing with interest
Look at someone to show romantic or sexual interest
To look at someone in a way that shows sexual interest as if they have no clothes
Antonyms
How Flirtatious
Surface Forms
Morphology
give + (someone) + the + eye
The phrase combines familiar words so a B1 learner who knows 'give' and 'eye' can likely infer it means 'to give a look' or 'look at someone' because 'eye' is used figuratively for looking. However, the specific pragmatic/romantic or flirtatious nuance ('sexually or romantically interested') is not fully predictable from the parts and typically requires exposure, so the expression is only partly transparent.
Etymology
The idiom give (someone) the eye comes from the simple picture of using your eyes to send a message: to give someone the eye is to look at them in a small, meaningful way that shows you notice them. That's why it means 'to look at someone to show romantic or sexual interest'.