roving eye
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roving eye (plural roving eyes)
- (idiomatic) Wide-ranging observation of one's surroundings.
- 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Nineteenth”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC:
- Mr Codlin had relaxed into a grim smile as his roving eye detected hands going into waistcoat pockets and groping secretly for sixpences.
- 1916, Joseph A. Altsheler, chapter 9, in The Hunters of the Hills:
- His roving eye traveled around the room, and, resting upon the three guests, became inflamed.
- 2009 July 12, William Grimes, “Paul Hemphill, Chronicler of the South, Dies at 73”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 March 2018:
- Like Jimmy Breslin, a writer he was often compared to, he turned his roving eye to ordinary Southerners overlooked by most writers and mined the inexhaustible vein of human experience.
- (idiomatic) The personal characteristic of taking amorous interest in people other than one's own spouse or regular romantic partner.
- 1858, Thomas Bulfinch, chapter 4, in Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Chivalry:
- This dame she was new-fangled
And of a roving eye. . . .
"Beshrew me," quoth King Arthur,
"I think thou be'st not true!"
- 1909, Dante Alighieri, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Purgatorio, Canto 32:
- But because she her wanton, roving eye
Turned upon me, her angry paramour
Did scourge her from her head unto her feet.
- 2001 April 21, Ellin Martens, “People: Beauty and the Bombshells”, in Time, retrieved 21 March 2018:
- Miss Israel . . . plans to wear a bulletproof gown created by Tel Aviv designer Galit Levi. . . . The heavy-duty 2001 creation could also keep Miss Israel safe from the roving eye of pageant director Donald Trump.