private-eyev.
/ˌprʌɪvᵻtˈʌɪ/, U.S. /ˈˌpraɪvᵻtˈˌaɪ/ rare.
intransitive. To work as a private detective. Also transitive: to investigate (a person) in the manner of a private eye; to make (one's way) in the manner of a private eye. Cf. private-eyeing n. at private eye n. and adj. Derivatives.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > procedures used in spying > maintain surveillance [verb (intransitive)] > act as private detective
Sherlock1913
private-eye1950
1950 Portland (Maine) Press Herald 3 June They private-eyed them, at lunch at the Statler, at parties, at their jobs.
1954 Washington Post 24 July 10/1 O'Brien calls in Mickey Spillane, of all people, to private-eye his way to the bottom of things.
1979 G. Swarthout Skeletons 231 She had offered to marry me again..if I would private-eye for her.
1992 Houston Chron. (Nexis) 19 Apr. 3 The only reason Dol's private-eyeing, anyway, is that she's a good woman who loves her man.
1993 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 3 Jan. 1 Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson spent little time here, and Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade could have private-eyed anywhere.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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v.1950