“Keep Your Eyes Peeled” Compares Eyelids to Fruit Peels

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Brent from San Diego.

Hi, Brent. How are you doing?

I’m doing fine.

Well, welcome to the show. What can we do for you?

Well, I was wanting to know from where the expression keeping your eyes peeled comes.

In particular, I’m interested in the word peeled, because in the back of my mind I’m thinking that it has something to do with the opening eyelid movement of birds of prey, and I’ve always had a question about it.

The opening eyelid movement of birds of prey. What do you mean by that?

Well, somewhere in my mind, I’m thinking that the word peel means when a bird of prey like a hawk or an eagle opens their eye. It’s called peeling.

And I think that that’s where the expression comes from, but I think that it has an interesting spelling, and I don’t recall at all what it is, and I thought maybe you guys could help me out.

You’re not confusing the word peel with seal, are you? S-E-E-L?

I don’t believe that I am, no.

Okay.

I was going to say that’s a term from falconry that in the Middle Ages, it’s terrible what they did to train hawks. At a certain point in their training, they would stitch their eyes shut, I mean, to train falcons.

Oh.

Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, and they would call that sealing, S-E-E-L.

Because that makes them tame, right?

So they can be conditioned while their eyes are sewed shut, and then when you unsew them or unstitch them, then they’re more manageable.

Right, right. They don’t do that anymore, I’m told.

Yeah, they lose those little hoods, don’t they, to keep the blind?

Yeah, I think so. But that’s not ringing a bell, huh?

No, that’s not ringing a bell.

But it’s close. It does have something to do with the eyelids, right, Martha?

Yeah, well, keeping your eyes open.

But I’m not sure that there’s a technical term from falconry or anything like that. As far as I know, it just originated in the 19th century as the idea of keeping that eyelid up so that you can see what’s going on.

So it’s like your eyelids are the peels on the fruit of your eye orbs or something like that, right?

Yeah, on the apple of your eye or something.

There we go, yeah.

I don’t know.

Well, it really is spelled P-E-E-L then.

Yes, it’s P-E-E-L and it’s not P-E-A-L.

I do recall running across another definition of the word peel referring to the eyelid movement of a bird of prey. And that made sense to me.

When a bird peels its eye, then, you know, it’s able, you know, it’s like looking like a hawk or, you know, eagle eye, something.

I wonder if that’s sort of like a back formation, like somebody started using that term to refer to the hawk after the fact. After the other expression, keep your eyes peeled with two E’s, came about.

But I tell you what, Brent, I always appreciate the opportunity to talk about nictitating membranes. I’ve got to tell you.

Is that legal? Are we going to get fines?

Yeah, I mean, I love that term. It comes from a Latin word that means wink, and that’s that little thing that goes back and forth over birds’ eyes.

That makes them more moist, right?

It’s not the eyelid, but it’s under the eyelid.

Oh, well, no, it’s over the eyelid, right, Brent?

Oh, I see.

I mean, it’s over the eye, right? It’s like a third eyelid, right?

Oh, I see.

That’s my understanding. I’m not an expert in bird anatomy either.

So, Brent, I don’t have a good answer for you about peel, but I always love the opportunity to talk about nictitating membranes any time I can get the chance.

Yeah, Brent, the short version is, as far as we know, it has nothing to do with hawks or falconry or anything like that. It simply has to mean with the eyelids being talked about as if they were the peel of a fruit, and you’re literally peeling them back off your eyes when you open your eyes.

Okay.

Okay.

All right, Brent.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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