Etymology

Noun

1. An organ that is sensitive to light, which it converts to electrical signals passed to the brain, by which means animals see.
2. The visual sense.

   The car was quite pleasing to the eye, but impractical.

3. Attention, notice.

   That dress caught her eye.

4. The ability to notice what others might miss.

   He has an eye for talent.

5. A meaningful stare or look.

   She was giving him the eye at the bar.

   When the car cut her off, she gave him the eye.

6. A private eye: a privately hired detective or investigator.
   • 2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Random House, ISBN 0609608444, page 199,

     Far more annoying were the letters from parents of missing daughters and the private detectives who had begun showing up at his door. Independently of each other, the Cigrand and Conner families had hired “eyes” [word used 1892 June 26, “At the Nearby Normal School”, in the Chicago Tribune] to search for their missing daughters.

7. A hole at the blunt end of a needle through which thread is passed.
8. A fitting consisting of a loop of metal or other material, suitable for receiving a hook or the passage of a cord or line.
9. The relatively clear and calm center of a hurricane or other such storm.
10. A mark on an animal, such as a peacock or butterfly, resembling a human eye.
11. The dark spot on a black-eyed pea.
12. A reproductive bud in a potato.

Verb

1. To observe carefully.

   After eying the document for an hour she decided not to sign it.

   They went out and eyed the new car one last time before deciding.

2. To view something narrowly, as a document or a phrase in a document.
3. To look at someone or something as if with the intent to do something with that person or thing.