eye up

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

eye up (third-person singular simple present eyes up, present participle eyeing up or eying<q up or rare> up, simple past and past participle eyed up)

1. (idiomatic, colloquial) To examine closely something coveted.

   Synonyms: give someone the eye, eyeball (verb)

   That creep in the corner was eyeing me up.

   The dog was eyeing up my steak.

   • 2025 April 16, Howard Johnston, “Regional News: Wales”, in RAIL, number 1033, page 25:

     Llanelli: An empty piece of land south of the station is being eyed up by Carmarthenshire Council, to create a better interchange for buses and taxis, and to build a car park.

2. (idiomatic, colloquial) To examine casually by eye, with little or no measuring or testing.

   Synonym: eyeball (verb)

   Hey, while you're there, take a look at their furnace. You don't have to inspect it — just eye it up and tell me whether it's decrepit or not.

Translations

To examine

Danish: beglo Italian: adocchiare (it) Lithuanian: tyrinėti Norwegian: Bokmål: beglo Polish: taksować (pl) impf Romagnol: aducêr, ducêr