private eye

noun

, Slang.

1. a private detective.

private eye

noun

1. informal.
   a private detective

Word History and Origins

Origin of private eye¹

1935–40; eye, allusive phonetic rendering of I, abbreviation of investigator

Idioms and Phrases

A privately employed detective, as opposed to one working for the police or another authority. For example, The children loved stories about private eyes, and Janey wanted to become one . This expression comes from the term private investigator , the “i” of investigator being changed to “eye,” which plays on the idea of a person looking into things. [1930s]

Example Sentences

His college classmate, Bill Marshall, is a South Florida private eye.

From The Daily Beast

Johnny Depp has a pretty sizeable role in Tusk as the Montreal private eye Guy LaPointe.

From The Daily Beast

The hero is Lucas Spero, a veteran of the wars in the Middle East and a tough guy private eye.

From The Daily Beast

And Cormoran Strike is a private eye whose company I would share again no matter whose name is on the dust jacket.

From The Daily Beast

His widow gave the private eye a box full of tapes marked “JACKSON” that her husband had been working on.

From The Daily Beast

I felt like flashing a twenty at him like a private eye did in the old tough-books, but I knew it wouldn't work.

From Project Gutenberg

Morays professions to Elizabeth may have been a blind, but his letters for Marys private eye have a more genuine air.

From Project Gutenberg

In his pocket was a great bunch of newspaper clippings, intended for the private eye of the new Mrs. De Foe's one-time secretary.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• inquiry agent
• P.I.
• private detective
• private dick
• private investigator
• sleuth