α. 1500s birde eie, 1700s– bird eye.
β. 1500s birds eine, 1600s birds eyne, 1700s birds' eyen.
γ. 1600s birdes eye, 1600s– birds eye, 1700s– bird's eye, 1900s– birds' eye.
bird's eyeadj.n.
/ˈbəːdz ʌɪ/, U.S. /ˈbərdz ˌaɪ/ A. adj. As a modifier. Frequently hyphenated.† 4. Designating cigarettes made with bird's eye tobacco (see sense B. 3). Obsolete.
1.
a. Designating a fabric with a pattern of spots, a pattern of this type, or an item of clothing or accessory with such a pattern; (now often) spec. designating a small geometric pattern woven with a dot in the centre, typically used in suiting and lining fabrics.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [adjective] > patterned > spotted > pattern
bird's eye1586
pinhead1878
1586 Acct.-bk. W. Wray in Antiquary (1896) 32 77/1 iij q'tres birde eie duraunce, xvid.
1665 S. Pepys Diary 14 May (1972) VI. 102 My wife very fine in a new yellow birds-eye Hood, as the fashion is now.
1689 London Gaz. No. 2440/4 A third [pair of stays] of Olive coloured Birds-eye Silk.
1756 Harrop's Manch. Mercury 8 June A green and white Bird's Eye Waistcoat.
1870 Cassell's Househ. Guide I. 34/1 Buy twelve yards of bird's-eye spotted cambric muslin, at a shilling a yard, and make six [gowns].
1957 L. E. Simpson & M. Weir Weaver's Craft (ed. 8) xii. 151 The patterns most generally used for tweeds are: 1. Twill... 4. Bird eye twill. 5. Goose eye.
1983 N.Y. Times 11 Sept. vi. 76/2 Color should be the first consideration when wearing them with a basic gray suit. Maroon, with a bird's-eye pattern, is one good choice.
2016 Advocate (Perth, Austral.) (Nexis) 3 June 30 Johnson Tailor cashmere birdseye jacket, superfine merino wool crewneck sweater and double breasted cardigan and wool trousers.
b. spec. Designating a silk handkerchief or neckerchief with such a pattern worn as a piece of fashionable attire in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Frequently in bird's eye fogle, bird's eye wipe. Often associated with boxers of the era of bareknuckle bouts before the introduction of the Marquis of Queensberry rules (1867). Cf. sense B. 2b. Now historical and rare.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [adjective] > head- or hair-band
bird's eye1734
1734 Proc. Old Bailey 16 Jan. 69/1 The Window-shutters were put to, but not fastned. I pull'd 'em open, hoisted up the Sash, went in, took 5 Tea-spoons, a pair of Tea-tongs, and two silk Birds-eye Indian Handkerchiefs, and handed them out to the Prisoner, who stood at the Window to watch.
1789 G. Parker Life's Painter 136 I only napt a couple of bird's eye wipes, which I have just fenc'd to the Cove at that there Ken.
1828 N.-Y. Enquirer 15 Apr. 2/4 His birdseye fogle was tied to the rails by Col. Brim-Stone, his second.
1841 W. M. Thackeray Yellowplush Papers 22 He wore a white hat, a bird's-eye handkerchief, and a cut-away coat.
1924 Canton (Ohio) Daily News 5 July ii. 2/2 Tom Sayers..with a blue birds eye handkerchief around his waist.
1950 Evening Standard 24 Jan. 11/4 Put a blue bird's-eye scarf round Freddie's middle, and you have the reincarnation of a hip-and-thigh hero of the prize ring.
c. Of wood, esp. that of the sugar maple, Acer saccharum: having a decorative pattern of small roundish markings; esp. in bird's eye maple. Also: designating this pattern; made from such wood. Cf. sense B. 5.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > wood of specific trees > [noun] > maple > types of
peacock's tail1664
sugar maple1731
curled maple1778
bird's eye maple1793
soft maple1806
Queensland maple1915
tiger maple1961
1793 E. P. Simcoe Diary 26 Apr. (1965) 94 Capt. Shaw has given me a tea Chest in bird's eye Maple.
1803 Derby Mercury 3 Nov. (advt.) Black-birch Timber, fit for Cabinet Makers... Bird-eye Maple, ditto.
1848 E. C. Gaskell Mary Barton I. iii. 37 Her business was duly announced in gold letters..enclosed in a bird's-eye maple frame.
1876 Harper's Weekly 15 Jan. 51/1 The grain of bird's-eye walnut frequently forms curious outlines.
1888 R. B. Hough Amer. Woods I. 50 The ‘Blister’, ‘Bird's-eye’ or ‘Pin’ and ‘Curley’ figures much more frequently occur for some unknown reason in the Maples.
1911 Packages Feb. 76/3 There has been a most gratifying demand for birds-eye veneer.
1937 Amer. Home Nov. 62/2 (caption) Above is the sunroom with it's [sic] birds-eye cypress paneling.
2009 H. Riley in Sins of Father xxvi. 143 Awesome marquetry flooring was crafted in a giant circular Aztec design, in birds-eye-maple, cherry, and rich walnut.
2. Designating a view of something from above, (in early use) esp. a panoramic view of a landscape from a high vantage point. Also of an image: painted, drawn, photographed, etc., from this perspective. Chiefly in bird's eye view (see bird's eye view n. 1).
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > [adjective] > view or scenery > general or extensive
bird's eye1754
panoramic1796
panoptic1845
panoramical1846
panopticala1878
panoram1902
wraparound1950
1754 P. Delany Observ. Ld. Orrery's Remarks Swift xviii. 173 Yours, my Lord, is what the painters call, a bird's-eye prospect; which though it takes in a larger scene, can take little or no notice of the several distinguished beauties of the particular parts.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 96 A bird-eye landscape of a promised land. View more context for this quotation
1847 Illustr. London News 12 June 379/3 Those who know the prospect from the top of the Rigi, in Switzerland, have seen a much finer bird's-eye panorama than can be got from a balloon.
1920 C. Morley Trav. Philadelphia 163 It shows the city as seen from some imaginary bird's-eye vantage, perhaps somewhere above the Girard Avenue Bridge.
2008 Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Jan. 14/4 One can often acquire from these sources a bird's eye image of the entire route and destination.
2012 L. Grig in L. Grig & G. Kelly Two Romes ii. 36 The distancing effect of the bird's-eye perspective could also have other effects, or implications.
3. Designating the small, typically very pungent fruits of certain cultivated varieties of capsicum, and varieties of capsicum producing such fruits, esp. in bird's eye chilli, bird's eye pepper. Cf. sense B. 4.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > fruits as vegetables > capsicum > types of
green pepper1565
case pepper1631
bird pepper1696
bell-pepper1707
goat peppera1726
bayberry1756
bird's eye pepper1829
bird's eye1842
pimiento1845
bird's eye chilli1851
paprika1851
pimento1885
datil1900
chile ancho1906
chile mulato1907
pasilla1929
jalapeño pepper1949
poblano1950
Serrano1952
chile poblano1972
1829 G. Spratt Flora Medica I. 93 The Capsicum Frutescens, (a shrubby plant) commonly known by the names of Barbary or bird's-eye pepper, which is the hottest species of Capsicum.
1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. I. 202/1 Green and red bird's eye chili, from the East Indies.
1920 A. J. Pinn & R. N. Makin Veg. Growing New S. Wales 53 The dried fruit, chiefly of the Bird's Eye variety, forms the base of cayenne pepper.
2005 Chowhound's Guide San Francisco Bay Area 282 Red and yellowish-green bird's eye chilis sold loose or on their leafy vines.
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the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > tobacco > smoking > articles or materials used in smoking > [adjective] > type of cigarette
bird's eye1877
gold-tipped1890
mentholated1895
cork-tipped1907
king-size1909
roll-your-own1911
tailor-made1924
filter-tipped1927
king-sized1940
roll-up1948
filterless1956
tipped1964
untipped1968
unfiltered1976
1877 Spectator 26 May 674/3 Wills' ‘best bird's-eye’ cigarettes.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 429 Gaudy dollwomen loll in the lighted doorways..smoking birdseye cigarettes.
B. n.
1. As the name of a plant.Used chiefly with reference to plants having flowers with a distinctive central marking; cf. eye n.1 10b(c).
a. The Eurasian primrose Primula farinosa, which has a long-stalked inflorescence of pinkish flowers with yellow throats, and a mealy deposit on the leaves and stems; (also) any of several other primulas resembling this (usually with distinguishing word); = bird's eye primrose n. at Compounds.In early use also in plural form.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > primrose and allied flowers > primrose or auricula
primrosea1425
primula1526
petty mullein1578
bear's ear1597
bear's ear sanicle1597
bird's eye1597
mountain cowslip1597
rock rose1597
French cowslip1629
auricula1655
polyanthusa1678
polyanth1757
Scotch primrose1777
plumrose1787
plumrock1789
bird's eye primrose1796
Chinese primrose1825
dusty miller1825
Jack-in-the-box1850
Jack in the green1875
polyanthus primrose1882
boar's-ears-
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 638 In the middle of euery small flower appeereth a little yellowe spot, resembling the eie of a bird, which hath mooued the people of the north parts (where it aboundeth) to call it Birds eine.
1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole 247 The Birds eyes are called of Lobel in Latine, Paralytica Alpina, Sanicula angustifolia, making a greater and a lesser.
1756 J. Hill Brit. Herbal 69/2 (heading) Birds Eye. Paralysis flore rubente.
1826 R. Sweet Hortus Britannicus II. 330 Scotch bird's-eye.
1924 Garden 7 June 403/3 A delightful little group of the muscari-like P. deflexa and that strongest of the ‘birds'-eyes’, P. frondosa.
2015 R. Mabey Cabaret of Plants (e-book ed.) In the fells north of Grasmere it had taken Tony and me ages to find the bird's-eyes.
b. Any plant of the genus Adonis (family Ranunculaceae), the flowers of which typically have a dark centre; †a flower of such a plant (obsolete). Cf. pheasant's eye n. 2. Now rare.Now only in lists of alternative names for these plants.
ΚΠ
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I Adonis, or Flos Adonis, Bird's-Eye, or Pheasant's-Eye.
1818 R. J. Thornton Juvenile Bot. 106 This is called the Nectary, and it distinguishes this flower from the Flos Adonis, or Bird's-eye.
2017 R. J. Favretti & J. P. Favretti Landscapes & Gardens for Hist. Buildings (ed. 3) iii. 96 Adonis autumnalis. Flos adonis, Bird's Eye, Pheasant's Eye.
c. The plant germander speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys, which has bright blue flowers with white centres. Now rare (English regional (south-western) in later use).
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Scrophulariaceae (figwort and allies) > [noun] > Veronica or speedwell > genus Veronica
veronica1527
bird's eye1807
Hebe1961
1807 T. Martyn Miller's Gardener's & Botanist's Dict. (rev. ed.) II. i. at Pasture Veronica Chamædrys. Wild Germander or Germander Speedwell, Bird's-eye. Pastures, but mostly in hedges and among bushes. A very elegant blue flower.
1885 Longman's Mag. 311 Blue Veronica..sometimes called germander speedwell, sometimes bird's-eye.
1974 W. Leeds Herefordshire Speech 48 Bird's eye, germander speedwell.
d. Any of various other plants, typically having small flowers with a throat or central marking of a contrasting colour; (in later use) esp. an annual plant an annual native to western North America, Gilia tricolor (family Polemoniaceae), having blue flowers with a purple throat. Occasionally also: †a flower of such a plant (obsolete). Also in plural form.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > names applied to various plants > [noun]
heatha700
beeworteOE
leversc725
springworteOE
clotec1000
halswortc1000
sengreenc1000
bottle?a1200
bird's-tonguea1300
bloodworta1300
faverolea1300
vetchc1300
pimpernel1378
oniona1398
bird's nest?a1425
adder's grassc1450
cockheada1500
ambrosia1525
fleawort1548
son before the father1552
crow-toe1562
basil1578
bird's-foot1578
bloodroot1578
throatwort1578
phalangium1608
yew1653
chalcedon1664
dittany1676
bleeding heart1691
felon-wort1706
hedgehog1712
land caltrops1727
old man's beard1731
loosestrife1760
Solomon's seal1760
fireweed1764
desert rose1792
star of Bethlehem1793
hen and chickens1794
Aaron's beard1820
felon-grass1824
arrowroot1835
snake-root1856
firebush1858
tick-seed1860
bird's eye1863
burning bush1866
rat-tail1871
lamb's earsa1876
lamb's tongue plant1882
tar-weed1884
Tom Thumb1886
parrotbeak1890
stinkweed1932
1863 R. C. A. Prior On Pop. Names Brit. Plants 22 Bird's-eyes, Red-, Geranium robertianum.
1868 E. Lees Bot. Malvern Hills (ed. 3) 47 Myosotis. Scorpion-grass, bird's-eye, or forget-me-not.
1893 Chambers's Jrnl. 28 Oct. 686/1 It be goin' to rain; they bird's-eyes a-shutting up.
1931 L. B. Wilder Adventures Suburban Garden 225 G[ilia] tricolor, Bird's Eyes,..bears pretty, pale-lilac flowers yellow at the center.
1990 J. Bennett & T. Forsyth Harrowsmith Ann. Garden 40/2 Bird's eyes and blue thimble flowers are sold by few seed companies, yet they have many good qualities.
2. † b. colloquial. A silk handkerchief or neckerchief with a bird's eye pattern worn as a piece of fashionable attire in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Often associated with boxers of the era of bareknuckle bouts before the introduction of the Marquis of Queensberry rules (1867). Cf. sense A. 1b.Obsolete.
a. A fabric with a pattern of spots; a pattern of this type; (now often) spec. a small geometric pattern woven with a dot in the centre, typically used in making suits and lining fabrics. Cf. sense A. 1a.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > patterned > spotted > pattern
bird's eye1647
polka dot1857
1647 in J. M. Spicksley Business & Househ. Accts. J. Jeffreys (2012) 280 6 yeards of fine white dimity, or birds eyes, at 2s 4d a yeard, cost: 14s.
1768 G. Washington Cash Accts. 1 June in Papers (1993) VIII. 91 To Weaving..15 yds cotton birdeye.
1884 North-eastern Daily Gaz. (Middlesbrough) 14 June His neckerchief was of the same hue, with a light crimson ‘bird's eye’.
1920 A. M. Cooley & W. H. Spohr Househ. Arts for Home & School (1924) I. vi. 386 Diapers can be made of either linen or cotton bird's-eye.
1999 C. Mendelson Home Comforts xiv. 199/1 Bird's-eye is the name of a typical fabric having dobby weave.
2017 Star Phoenix (Saskatoon, Sask.) (Nexis) 7 Oct. (Early ed.) f10 This season, the blues are in multiple shades and patterns from navy to glen check to bird's eye to neat patterns.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > head-cloth or -scarf > types of
volet1399
night-coverchiefa1427
night-kerchief?c1450
night-kercher1552
shade1706
fala1721
teresa1770
bird's eye?1775
doek1798
Madras handkerchief1808
Madras turban1818
keffiyeh1831
Madras1838
turban1839
rigolette1859
charshaf1926
babushka1937
do-rag1964
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > neck-wear > [noun] > neckerchief > types of
rail1482
whisk1654
neck stock1681
stocka1684
steenkirk1694
neckatee1706
bird's eye?1775
belcher1805
yellow man1812
starcher1818
choker1848
?1775 Ranelaugh Concert 7/1 With a blue bird's eye about my squeeg, And a check shirt on my back.
1812–13 P. Egan Boxiana I. 167 The blue silk bird's-eye graced the appearance of the backers of the Chicken.
1845 Era 17 Aug. Beaumont..was attended by Harrison and Hague, each wearing a blue bird's eye.
1927 P. Herring Bold Bendigo i. 2 There'll be a young man go to the fair wi' a bonny new birdseye round his neck.
3. More fully bird's eye tobacco. A variety of pipe tobacco in which the whole leaf, including the rib, is finely sliced, with the sections of rib giving the appearance of a bird's eye pattern (see sense A. 1) to the finished tobacco.
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the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > tobacco > [noun] > other types of tobacco
craccus1617
mavis1641
shoot-tobacco1666
funk1677
black tobacco1698
kite's-foot1788
dark leaf1829
bird's eye1834
bright leaf1834
honeydew tobacco1835
seed leaf1837
long-tails1839
honeydew1843
caporal1850
dogleg tobacco1856
dogleg1863
Boer1881
burley1881
black boy1898
snus1916
1834 Yorks. Gaz. 18 Jan. (advt.) The very best Bird's Eye and Shag Tobacco that is manufactured.
1858 A. Trollope Three Clerks I. ii. 29 Mary, my dear, a screw of bird's-eye!
1929 R. Graves Good-bye to all That (1960) 262 Selling a packet of Bird's Eye tobacco to the Poet Laureate with one hand, and with the other weighing out half a pound of brown sugar for Sir Arthur Evans's gardener's wife.
2021 www.smokingpipes.com (accessed 28 May 2021) Gawith Hoggarth & Co.: Dark Bird's Eye..1oz: $4.34.
4. A small, typically very pungent chilli (cf. sense A. 3); (also) any variety of capsicum bearing fruits of this type.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > fruits as vegetables > capsicum > types of
green pepper1565
case pepper1631
bird pepper1696
bell-pepper1707
goat peppera1726
bayberry1756
bird's eye pepper1829
bird's eye1842
pimiento1845
bird's eye chilli1851
paprika1851
pimento1885
datil1900
chile ancho1906
chile mulato1907
pasilla1929
jalapeño pepper1949
poblano1950
Serrano1952
chile poblano1972
1842 F. S. Holmes Southern Farmer & Market Gardener 88 The bird's eye is the best to make pepper vinegar of.
1877 Kitchen & Market Garden 121 There are also several other valuable varieties for this purpose,—namely, Bird's Eye (very pretty), Cherry, Square, and the largest of all the Capsicums, the Monster.
1900 Queensland Agric. Jrnl. 1 Dec. 545 The variety I have planted is the common bird's-eye used by the Ceylon coolie.
2006 H. Mitcham Creole Gumbo (new ed.) 74/1 To get the heat they use fresh horseradish and fresh or pickled hot peppers (serranos, tabascos, cayennes, jalapenos, or birds' eyes).
5. Any of the small roundish markings found in the wood of certain trees (cf. sense A. 1c); the condition of having such markings.
ΚΠ
1899 Meehan's Monthly Nov. 176/2 But the woody bases..are grown over by the increase in the woody girth, and form small ‘knots’ or ‘birds-eyes’ in the timber.
1930 Forest Leaves 22 135/1 It is sometimes argued that the work of woodpeckers and sapsuckers causes ‘bird's eyes’ to result.
1933 Jrnl. Forestry 31 968/1 This led him to suspect that suppression might play a large part as a cause of bird's-eye.
2007 Fine Woodworking July 94/1 Though it occurs in many species, bird's eye is best known in sugar maple.
Compounds
bird's eye limestone n. now chiefly historical a kind of fine-grained limestone occurring esp. in New York State which displays small round markings or structures due to the presence of fossils.
ΚΠ
1838 T. A. Conrad in Communication Geol. Surv. State 119 in Docs. Assembly State N.-Y. (61st Session, Doc. No. 200) IV Orhostoma communis [read Orthostoma].—Common in the upper layer of the birds-eye limestone.
1921 A. W. Grabau Textbk. Geol. II. xxxiii. 280 On the bedding planes of some of the strata of this limestone are shown the cross-sections of many vertical tubes filled with calcite and from the general appearance thus produced, the rock was formerly called Bird's-eye limestone.
2001 S. Reigler Kentucky 282/2 Imposing 1905 bird's-eye limestone home built for a U.S. senator from Kentucky.
bird's eye primrose n. the Eurasian primrose Primula farinosa, which has a long-stalked inflorescence of pinkish flowers with yellow throats, and a mealy deposit on the leaves and stems; (also) any of several other primroses resembling this; cf. sense B. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > primrose and allied flowers > primrose or auricula
primrosea1425
primula1526
petty mullein1578
bear's ear1597
bear's ear sanicle1597
bird's eye1597
mountain cowslip1597
rock rose1597
French cowslip1629
auricula1655
polyanthusa1678
polyanth1757
Scotch primrose1777
plumrose1787
plumrock1789
bird's eye primrose1796
Chinese primrose1825
dusty miller1825
Jack-in-the-box1850
Jack in the green1875
polyanthus primrose1882
boar's-ears-
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 235 Birds-eye Primrose. Marshes and bogs on mountains in the north.
1830 Curtis's Bot. Mag. 57 2973 (heading) Primula mistassinica. Lesser American Bird's-eye Primrose.
1868 J. T. Burgess Eng. Wild Flowers 104 The Bird's eye Primrose is..somewhat like an auricula.
2014 M. Jeffords & S. Post Exploring Nature Illinois 14/2 The bird's-eye primrose is a northern wildflower that grows on the tundra of Alaska.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1586