Here’s an interesting answer about an oft-used phrase. This exchange is from World Wide Words:
Keep Your Eyes Peeled
Q. Can you enlighten me on the origin of the expression keep your eyes peeled or pealed?
A. It’s spelled peeled, as in peeling an apple. It derives from an old verb pill, “to plunder,” which is the root of our modern word pillage. It came to us from the Latin root pilare, meaning “to take the hair off, pluck” (closely connected with our depilate), but which also had the figurative meaning of “plunder, cheat,” almost exactly the same as the figurative meaning of our modern verbs fleece or pluck. From about the 17th century on, pill was commonly spelt peel and took on the sense of “to remove or strip” in the weakened sense of removing an outer covering, such as a fruit. The figurative sense of keeping alert, by removing any covering of the eye that might impede vision, seems to have appeared in the United States about 1850.
Kara Church
Technical Editor, Advisory
619-542-6773 | Ext: 766773
Symitar Documentation Services
NOTICE: This electronic mail message and any files transmitted with it are intended
exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The message,
together with any attachment, may contain confidential and/or privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, printing, saving, copying, disclosure or distribution
is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please
immediately advise the sender by reply email and delete all copies.
Leave a Reply