Apr
17
Eyeballing
Filed Under E
It’s amusing that you can turn most nouns into verbs in English. I like this one especially in contexts, where it’s opposed to having the computer check something.
Andras Mueller
Leipzig, Germany
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“Eyeball” is also used in the Southern U.S. as a term meaning, “to look at in a menacing or contemptuous manner.”
It is heard frequently when a parent is disciplining a child. If the child glares back at his or her parent, the parent may interpret it as an act of defiance. Should that be the case, the child will be admonished with something like, “Don’t you EYEBALL me!”
Another frequent usage is the gerund form (as Andras puts it above) to describe someone gazing at a person or object with envy, desire, or lust. I can still hear my mother saying, “I see you eyeballing that cookie jar.” That statement, of course, carried the unspoken warning that looking at the cookie jar was the only thing I should consider!