Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
red-eye

red-eye

11 6.2
An overnight flight that leaves late and often makes you tired
  • noun
  • /ˈrɛdˌaɪ/
translation icon : vuelo nocturno
  • It all started three weeks ago when I flew in on a red-eye from New York.
  • red-eye flight
  • take the red-eye
  • catch a red-eye

I'm going to Columbus on a red eye.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • See, Paul Fireman, I only got the red eye from LA to Boston.

  • I have to be on a red eye tonight back to New York.

    Friends with Benefits (2011)

  • -Took the red eye to New York.

    The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991)

  • I'm catching the next red eye to New York in a couple of hours.

    Stardust (2020)

  • You're taking the red eye out in two hours.

    The Inconsiderables: Last Exit Out of Hollywood (2020)

  • You know you never sleep on the red-eye flight.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • And so I flew out on a red eye to go to this interview and only miss a one day worth of my live streams rather than miss two days.

  • Yesterday was long—probably because it was the second night in a row where we took a red-eye to our next destination.

    Blog text (10)

  • Seth thanked him for driving to Dulles and explained that he had to turn around and head back to San Francisco on the red-eye to cover three hearings the next morning.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I'm catching the next red-eye to New York in a couple of hours.

Synonyms

redeye
vsred-eye
5 7.5

An overnight flight when people often get little sleep and arrive tired

is used more broadly to include both the trip and the resulting fatigue
red eye
vsred-eye
1 3.6

A late-night flight that arrives early the next morning

is the same overnight trip but also means the tired weary state afterwards
redeye flight
vsred-eye
1 4.2

A late night plane trip that arrives the next morning and leaves you tired

is the general term for that journey and its tiredness effect

Antonyms

day return
  • UK
1 2.3

A ticket to travel to a place and back on the same day

Surface Forms

red-eye singular
red-eyes plural

Morphology

red-eye = red + eye (semi-transparent) = red + eye

Formed from 'red' + 'eye' but the specialized aviation sense 'overnight flight' is an idiomatic metaphor derived from passengers' red eyes due to fatigue, so learners may not infer the meaning from components alone.

Etymology

Red-eye comes from the image of tired travelers with red eye 'eyes' after flying through the night. So a red-eye is an overnight plane trip that often leaves you sleepy and with sore, red eyes the next morning.