ˈeyesalve Obs. exc. fig.
[f. eye n.1 + salve.]
Ointment for the eyes.
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 114 Colliria, eaᵹ⁓sealfe. c 1200 Ormin 1852 Hallȝhe læchedom And sawless eȝhesallfe. 1526 Bible (Tindale) Rev. iii. 18 Anoynt thyne eyes with eye salve, that thou mayste se. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 137 An Eye-salue made of the iuice of ground Iuie. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 203 Go, dress thine eye with eyesalve. |
| fig. 1550 Bale Image Both Ch. G iv, Anoynt thyne eyes..with the eye salve of clerenes which is Jesus Christe. 1641 Milton Reform. i. (1851) 30 If we will but purge with sovrain eyesalve that intellectual ray which God hath planted in us. 1677 Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 69 Where grace, as the only eye-salve, doth not restore the sight. |