hairy eyeball

noun

plural hairy eyeballs

: a look expressing disapproval, disgust, or scorn

He gave me a hairy eyeball and waited for me to wilt.

—Cory Doctorow

Tell someone you're meeting at a tapas bar and you'll be met with hairy eyeballs. A topless bar, they'll ask? Laughter ensues as the mistake is revealed.

—Courtney Holland

—often used with the

This place can be expensive. Indeed, when I turned in my receipts for reimbursement, I got the hairy eyeball—you spent how much at a pizza place?

—Dan Gigler

… Buddy Rogers refused to be in the picture if Charlie was going to be in it. He kept walking away with an attitude, giving everybody the ole hairy eyeball as he left.

—Amanda Walker

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above