eyelash

Etymology

It is formed from English eye + lash,^[2][3][4][5] the second element being the noun lash in the sense of a whip or the flexible part of one.^[2][3] Partridge suggests that the eyelash took its name from the whip's lash.^[6] Johnson (1773) gave the same two parts.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The row of hairs along the edge of an eyelid: 1675, in E. Pearse's account of the fire of Northampton.^[2][8] Etymonline and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate date the word to 1752,^[4][9] and Dictionary.com to 1745–55.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the whole fringe of hairs; since 1755 it has also meant a single one of them, the sense that is now usual;^[2][3][8] Johnson (1773) still defined it as the line of hair that edges the eyelid.^[7] The short form lash for an eyelash is recorded from 1796.^[2] Like whisker, eyelash came to stand for a very small distance or amount, especially in by an eyelash (1860).^[2][3][8] The phrase flutter one's eyelashes, to blink coyly and so flirt, is recorded from 1857.^[2] In British rhyming slang eyelash stands for slash, an act of urinating.^[10]

Timeline

• 1675 – the line of hairs on the edge of the eyelid.^[2][8] Etymonline dates the word to 1752.^[4]
• 1755 – a single hair of this line.^[2]
• 1857 – flutter one's eyelashes, to flirt.^[2]
• 1860 – a very small distance or amount, as in by an eyelash.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. One of the short hairs growing along the edge of the eyelid.^[8][3][2]
2. The fringe of such hairs on an eyelid.^[8][11][2]
3. A very small distance or margin; a hairbreadth: The relay team won by an eyelash.^[8][3][2]

Related words

• eye
• lash
• eyelid

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
11. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers