make eyes at

Idioms and Phrases

Ogle, flirt with, as in To her sister's disgust, she was always making eyes at the boys . Although slightly different versions, such as throw the eye at , are much older, this precise locution was first recorded in William Makepeace Thackeray's Henry Esmond (1852): “She used to make eyes at the Duke of Marlborough.” See also give someone the once-over .

Related Words

• eyeball
• gawk