eyelid
(ˈaɪlɪd)
[f. eye n.1 + lid.]
One of the lids or covers of the eye, distinguished as upper and lower; one of the movable folds of skin with which an animal covers or uncovers the eye at pleasure.
| a 1240 Sawles Warde in Cott. Hom. 265 Swifte as þe sunne gleam þe sc[heot from est into west, ase þin] ehe-lid tuneð ant openeð. a 1300 Cursor M. 19788 (Cott.) Wit þis sco lifted hir eien lidd. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. viii. (1495) 114 A foure foted beeste wythout eye lyddes is feble of syghte. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 74 His ee ledis asken reson of men. 1486 Bk. St. Albans A ij b, Put it thorow the ouer igh lid and so of that other. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. i. 7 O Sleepe, O gentle Sleepe, how haue I frighted thee That thou no more wilt weigh mine eye-lids downe. 1626 Bacon Sylva §870 Those that are Pore-blinde..doe much gather the Eye-lids together. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. ix. (1695) 68 How frequently do we..cover our Eyes with our Eye-lids, without perceiving that we are at all in the dark? 1752 Sir J. Hill Hist. Anim. 535 The eyes [of the Simia]..have an upper and under eye-lid, exactly as in our own species. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xv, The eyelid scarce had time to wink. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. i. ii. §18 Touching the edge or inner surface of the upper eye-lid. |
| Comb. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life 31 The eyelid-like valve which guards the entrance of the great veins. |
| fig. 1382 Wyclif Job xli. 9 His eȝen as eȝelidis of the morntid. 1637 Milton Lycidas 25 Under the opening eye⁓lids of the Morn We drove afield. 1647 H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. i. xxv, Gilded clouds Arching an eyelid for the glowing Morn. 1862 B. Taylor Poets Jrnl., Mystic Summer, And sweeter eyelids has the Day. |
b. Phrases.
† to hang (a thing) by the eyelids: to keep in suspense.
to hang by the eyelids: to have a very slight hold, be in a dangerous position.
| 1659 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 354, I would fain have things at an end, and not hang them by the eyelids thus. 1778 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 177 General Lee's affair hangs by the eyelids. 1877 J. T. Fields Underbrush (1881) 11 A magic quarto..with one of the covers hanging by the eyelids. |