Dictionary

eyen en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /aɪn/

Etymology

From Middle English eyen, iȝen (plural of eie, besides rarer eyes), from Old English ēagan (nominative plural of ēage), from Proto-West Germanic *augōn (nominative plural of *augā), from Proto-Germanic *augōnō (nominative plural of *augô); equivalent to eye + -en (plural ending)

Meanings

1. (archaic, dialectal, form-of, plural) plural of eye
   form of eye
   • Yea, ’t is true; I ’d know thee by thine eyen, that are gray, and thoughtful, and dark with a something that lies behind the colour of them,—and shining by the light of a lamp lit somewhere within. 1903, Florence Converse, Long Will: A Romance, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, page 138:
   • Sweet and benign mediatrix, Thine eyen of grace on us thou cast, Since thou art queen of paradise, And let not our hope be in waste, But show us thy Son at the last, Since we do sing and say to thee, ‘Maria, spes nostra, salue.’ 2001, James Ryman, “‘Meekly We Sing and Say to Thee’”, in Douglas Brooks-Davies, editor, Talking of Mothers: Poems for Every Mother (Everyman’s Poetry), London: Everyman Paperbacks, J.M. Dent, Orion Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 5:
   • But well are thine eyen set in thy head, wide apart, well opened, […] 1897, William Morris, “Chapter VII. Birdalone Hath an Adventure in the Wood”, in The Water of the Wondrous Isles (Fantasy), Project Gutenberg, published 2005:
   • While flashing beams do daze his feeble eyen. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Forms