black eye
1. An eye of which the iris is black or very dark-coloured; esp. as a mark of beauty, a dark lustrous eye.
| a 1667, 1775 [Implied at black-eyed a. 1 a.] 1839 Penny Cycl. XIV. 363/2 The Mongolian variety:—characterised by olive colour..and black eyes. 1842 Tennyson May Queen ii, There's many a black black eye, they say, but none so bright as mine. |
2. a. A discoloration of the flesh around the eye produced by a blow or contusion.
| 1604 Dekker Honest Wh. ii. Wks. 1873 II. 122, I doe not bid you beat her, nor giue her blacke eyes. 1819 Byron Juan ii. cxii, Just like a black eye in a recent scuffle. 1886 C. Coborn (title of song) Two lovely black eyes. 1926 Galsworthy Silver Spoon ii. iii. 132, I thought they'd have a row... Hadn't Michael a black eye? 1937 D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon i. 54 At this moment I could have been tramping at your heels with five babies and a black eye. |
b. fig. A severe blow or rebuff.
| 1744 C. Cibber Another Occas. Let. to Mr. P[ope] 8 If you had not been a blinder Booby, than myself, you would have sate down quietly with the last black Eye I gave you. 1813 J. Orrok Let. 1 Oct. (1927) 167 The young folks gave the Jelly and Jam a black eye. 1900 Congress. Rec. Jan. 1004/2, I hope the Pension Committee will give a black eye to every bill of that kind. 1962 Listener 29 Nov. 895/1 A black eye for the Indian Army. |