Comments on: Eyeballing

By: Elizabeth Lightwood

Elizabeth Lightwood — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:22:17 +0000

“Verbing weirds language.”

By: Ms. Donna

Ms. Donna — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:01:26 +0000

I lost the vision in my left eye due to a surgical error
twenty years ago. Family being what it is, we give each
other the gears whenever we can. My brother is deaf in
one ear. He will say to me ” Just eyeball it for me, won’t
you, dear? and my response to him is ” Oh, I hear you!”

By: Margaret In NJ

Margaret In NJ — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:28:22 +0000

When I worked in a molecular biology lab, one of my scientist-colleagues would use the term “eyeballometric” to refer to a rough estimate, as in, “Eyeballometrically, I think you’ve got about 10 milliliters there.”

By: Nickname

Nickname — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:58:52 +0000

I don’t have fond memories of this word. In Army Basic training, the Drill Sergeants woulds always say “don’t be eyeballing me private”, or “are you eyeballing me private”. Of course the word “private” was usually substituted for a word a bit more colorful if you know what I mean!

By: BigH829

BigH829 — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:22:46 +0000

“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!