private eye
A private personal detective, employed to gather information about someone.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“The family hired a private eye to find their lost dog.”
“A private eye watches the house from a parked car.”
“You need a private eye to help solve this mystery.”
“She suspected her business partner was stealing money, so she hired a private eye to follow him.”
“The insurance company sent a private eye to check if the man was actually injured or just pretending.”
“He decided to become a private eye after working as a police officer for twenty years.”
“A private eye took photos of the secret meeting to prove the lawyer was talking to the rival company.”
“The weary private eye spent weeks trailing the suspect through the city, hoping to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance.”
Derived from the abbreviation P.I. for private investigator, the term relies upon the homophony between the letter I and the word eye. It further references the eye as a symbol of surveillance. The transition from the initialism to the noun occurred as the visual metaphor for observation aligned with the phonetic requirements of the abbreviation.
- 01
an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
compensation for injury caused by a person, in the form of inflicting of an identical injury on that person.
- 02
apple of someone's eye
The object of somebody's affections; a person (or sometimes a thing) that someone strongly prefers; a favorite, a loved one.
- 03
blink of an eye
A moment (a very short period of time).
- 04
camel through the eye of a needle
Hyperbole to illustrate something that is impossible to do or to make happen.
- 05
catch someone's eye
To capture someone's attention.
- 06
catch the eye
To attract the attention
- 07
close one eye
to look the other way, to deliberately ignore or overlook (a mistake or transgression).
- 08
dry eye
An eye which is not crying, i.e. someone emotionally unmoved.
Last updated August 10, 2026