Keep your eyes open - what does it mean? How to understand the meaning of the expression keep your eyes open. Keep your eyes open - what does the meaning of the expression keep your ears open
29.11.2017
We all know that caution is very important. Especially in these turbulent times, it is very useful to always be on the alert. As you know, Russian people like to decorate their speech by diluting the narrative with red words, so it is not surprising that phraseological units have also appeared to describe the behavior of cautious people. It sounds like this: “keep your eyes open.” Our article will discuss the meaning and origin of this expression.
Where does the expression “keep your eyes open” come from?
Perhaps we should start with the obvious, namely, with the history of the famous phrase. Many catchphrases in the Russian language appeared thanks to people’s observations of animals. The phraseology “keep your eyes open” is one of these expressions.
Perhaps each of us has noticed how animals turn their ears warily when some noise is heard somewhere. They are trying to understand what is the source of the noise and what the consequences of its occurrence may be. At this time, the animals’ hearing organs are so strongly involved that they themselves become tense, acquiring a pointed shape.
The meaning of the phraseological unit “keep your eyes open”
After a detailed analysis of the origin of the phraseological unit, its meaning is beyond any doubt. The expression “keep your eyes open” means that a person is trying to be extremely attentive and careful. It is appropriate to use this phrase when a person does not relax for a minute and does not lose vigilance in any situation.
The phraseological phrase “keep your eyes open” has not lost its popularity for quite some time. We can safely say that it will remain one of the most popular catchphrases for a long time. Unfortunately, time passes, and humanity changes little, and we still need to be on guard in order to feel safe and ensure the existence of our loved ones as secure as possible.
It is worth emphasizing that the expression is often used not only in oral speech, but also in various literary works. This is not surprising, because this phraseological unit can very vividly and colorfully describe human behavior, and at the same time, the use of the expression “keep your eyes open” will help to better understand the idea that the author wanted to convey to the reader. This is due to the fact that the meaning of the expression is quite easy to guess even by those people who hear it for the first time.
Beware Wed. Oh, keep your eyes peeled for you! Turgenev. Spring waters. 35. Sanin. Wed. Anyone who messes with him is unsafe. So keep your ears open!... Dostoevsky. Humiliation and offended. 3, 6...
Mikhelson Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary
Spelling dictionary of the Russian language
Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
Explanatory Dictionary by Efremova
Explanatory Dictionary by Efremova
Russian spelling dictionary
Mikhelson Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (orig. orf.)
Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language
Large dictionary of Russian sayings
Word forms
Synonym dictionary
Synonym dictionary
"keep your eyes open" in books
You have to keep your eyes open with the KGB
From the book GRU Spetsnaz: Fifty years of history, twenty years of war... author Kozlov Sergey VladislavovichOne must keep one's ears open with the KGB. On this occasion, the brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Gerasimov, arrived at the battalion's location. There was a lot of noise around the captured documents. And when the films were developed and photographs were printed, they could see both the author of the notes and his
Keep it up!
From the book The Daily Life of Pirates and Corsairs of the Atlantic from Francis Drake to Henry Morgan author Glagoleva Ekaterina VladimirovnaHow to hold a long sword
From the book Spirit of the Warrior author Kholin Yuri EvgenievichHow to Hold a Long Sword Hold a long sword with your thumb and index finger relaxed, your middle finger neither tense nor relaxed, and your remaining two fingers held tightly. It’s bad if your hands shake. Raising your sword, have the intention of cutting
How can we keep them free?
From the book Thus Spoke Kaganovich author Chuev Felix IvanovichHow can we keep them free? - Not for the idea. Why the idea? Who could believe that the old, experienced conspirators, using all the experience of Bolshevik conspiracy and Bolshevik cooperation, and the underground organization, that these people would not contact each other and
How to hold a baby
From the author's bookHow to hold a baby Anyone who has seen a newborn at least once in his life will agree with me that holding him for the first time is somehow scary. It seems to be very easy to damage. But if you happen to become a father, then whether you want to learn how to hold a baby in your arms,
How to hold a table
From the book The Best for Health from Bragg to Bolotov. Large reference book of modern wellness author Mokhova AndreyHow to hold a table Myopic people hold a table at arm's length. If you are lucky and even at this distance you can clearly see the last line in the table, attach it to the wall and find the working line (read about how to do this below). Farsighted
Keep the blow!
From the book Getting Rid of All Diseases. Self-Love Lessons authorKeep the blow! Here are some effective techniques for self-defense from manifestations of other people’s aggressiveness. 1) It’s a good idea to imagine yourself so strong and so big that no grievances or sorrows simply reach you. Of course, the first thing you should do is learn
Keep balance
From the book Useless as a Rose author Lauveng ArnhildKeeping Balance When I learned to ride a bike as a child, The road had to be smooth, straight and open And there were no surprises, Like dogs and soccer balls, Which bring confusion and disturbance. Sometimes I wish life could be like this. Just. Directly.
Keep the blow!
From the book How to Raise Self-Esteem and Become Confident. Tests and rules author Tarasov Evgeniy AlexandrovichKeep the blow! Here are some effective techniques for self-defense against manifestations of other people's aggressiveness. It’s not a bad idea to imagine yourself so strong and so big that no insults or griefs simply “reach” you. Of course, the first thing you should do is study
Keep the blow!
From the book How to Increase Self-Esteem and Achieve Success author Tarasov Evgeniy AlexandrovichKeep the blow! Here are some effective techniques for self-defense against manifestations of other people's aggressiveness. ? It’s not a bad idea to imagine yourself so strong and so big that no insults or griefs simply “reach” you. Of course, the first thing you should do is study
Keep it up, Dabya
From the book I Have Something to Tell You by Johnson BorisKeep it up, Dabya New York “Stop talking,” I thought to myself. The last time I listened to a Republican Tuesday night keynote speaker was a week ago. I lay sleepy on my motel bed in North Carolina, flipping from channel to channel.
-- Keep it up!
From the book Newspaper Tomorrow 941 (48 2011) author Zavtra NewspaperKeep it up! Dear Gennady Vasilievich! Today, on the day of your “non-circular”, but still anniversary, you published this wonderful drawing in our newspaper. And in this drawing, as in all the previous ones, there is an endless love for Russia - the home of the Most Holy Theotokos. In that
Hold the bar
From the book Literary Newspaper 6258 (No. 54 2010) author Literary NewspaperKeep the Biblioman bar. Book dozen Keep the bar SIX QUESTIONS FOR THE PUBLISHER Alexander Rutman's publishing house has existed in Yaroslavl since the end of 1993, and thanks to him many worthy historical and local history books have appeared. Today Alexander RUTMAN at
Hold territory!
From the book Literary Newspaper 6301 (No. 46 2010) author Literary NewspaperHold territory! Events and opinions Hold the territory! POLL Recently, at a conference of the ruling United Russia party in Khabarovsk, new plans for the development of the economy of the Far East were announced. It is planned to increase the capacity of the Trans-Siberian
"Keep it up!"
From the book How to Speak So You Will Be Listened to by Clayton Mike"Keep it up!" To hold the attention of an audience, whether it's one person or a crowded conference room, there are four factors to consider: novelty, directness, trust, and rapport. We'll talk about mutual understanding in Chapter 7, but now let's move on to the other three.
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Today people have become very cruel, deceitful and dangerous, and you need to stay as far away from many of them as possible. Nowadays, just walking down the street without fear is a great luxury. After all, you usually have to be on your guard all the time, expecting some trick from the people around you. Of course, in the West, where gangs of Arabs are rampaging, raping and killing women, life is not at all easy, but even here we are far from the order that was under the USSR. Therefore, any person in the modern world should Be careful You can read what this phrase means a little lower. Our site is specially created so that you can find transcripts of a wide variety of sayings, expressions and concepts used in our everyday speech. Therefore, it’s not for me to remind you to add such a useful resource site to your bookmarks in order to continue to delight yourself with useful transcripts.
However, before I continue, I would like to show you a few more popular, and in some places even educational, publications on the topic of sayings and phraseological units. For example, what does it mean to powder the brain; how to understand the phrase Touch a nerve; the meaning of the phrase Through quiet sadness; which means Every sandpiper praises his swamp, etc.
So let's continue Keep your eyes open, meaning?
Be careful- means to be extremely careful with someone, not to trust him completely.
Example:
Max, you have to keep your eyes open with Tolyan, he’s an extremely shady guy.
Be careful- be constantly alert, monitor the situation, and don’t miss a single detail.
Example:
In this area, “treasures” must be hidden extremely carefully, and in general, always keep your ears open.
The main message of this phrase is " be on your guard", which means a lot of things, and one of them lies on the surface - to be prudent and careful, and not to treat the people around you with brotherly gullibility. This short expression contains the ancient folk wisdom that young mothers taught their fragile offspring , back in the Middle Ages.
However, this does not mean that you cannot trust anyone in principle. After all, there are good acquaintances, relatives and even devoted friends who will always step up and help with advice, money, and who knows what else. After all, this phraseological unit hints at paying attention to people who are suspicious, but not close to you.
Origin Keep your ears open
As you already understand, this folk art was formed in the depths of centuries, and in fact is a legend of deep antiquity. Of course, it has a specific author, but now it is almost impossible to establish him, and therefore this phrase, like thousands of other nameless proverbs, are considered to be the brainchild of the Russian people, " flesh of flesh, blood of blood".In general, our distant ancestors, in their legends, stories, and parables, loved to compare human behavior with the habits of a variety of animals. If you have your own dog or cat, look at what they do in a moment of fear or excitement, their ears stand up, actively scanning the surrounding space for the quietest sounds. When you see that your cute cat has raised her head and is energetically moving her ears, it means that something has alerted her or caused her great curiosity. It was precisely this behavior that gave rise to a similar proverb among the common people.
Usage
Today in our everyday vocabulary this phrase has practically disappeared as unnecessary, but in classical literature it was used almost everywhere at one time. In addition, at school, it is used by some teachers of Russian language and literature, grandparents born in the era of developed socialism, as well as in the media and the Internet. For example, while watching some program on TV, you hear the presenter extremely insistently recommending that you be careful and always keep your ears open in a given situation. In fact, the journalist seems to be hinting, no, even saying in plain text, that you should be more careful and attentive, for which he, of course, gets special " Thank you".Having studied all of the above, we can conclude that this catchphrase hides several meanings and functions. This phrase not only makes our daily communication brighter, richer and more colorful, but is also excellent advice for most of our citizens.
After reading this small but quite informative publication, you learned the meaning of phraseological units Be careful, and now you won’t find yourself in a bad situation if you suddenly hear or read this stable phrase again.
Keep your ears open. Only nonsense. Led more often. incl. or inf. 1. Be cautious, cautious, do not trust anyone. With whom? with this person, with the enemy, with the enemy... keep your ears open; must, must, must... keep your eyes open.
They are thieves. I have to keep my ears open; at the first failure, they will ransom their neck with my head. (A. Pushkin.)
We have forgotten that we need to keep our ears open with deep-thinking people... (N. Dobrolyubov.)
Irina Pavlovna realized that she had to be careful with this old man. (V. Pikul.)
2. To be on guard, on the alert, to be afraid of something. We must, we must... keep our ears open.
Lock the horses under the barn at the forge! And you yourself are on guard, and don’t doze off, but keep your ears open. (A. Ostrovsky.)
It’s not so easy to cross the border during the day, but at night keep your eyes open. (N. Ostrovsky.)
(?) From the speech of hunters. Literally: the dog should raise its ears straight up in order to hear better when smelling game.
Educational phraseological dictionary. - M.: AST. E. A. Bystrova, A. P. Okuneva, N. M. Shansky. 1997 .
See what “keep your eyes open” in other dictionaries:
be careful- Cm … Synonym dictionary
Be careful- Razg. Express 1. Be extremely cautious with anyone, do not trust anyone. Irina Pavlovna realized that she had to keep an eye out for this old man (V. Pikul. Ocean Patrol). 2. Be constantly on alert. An eye is needed at the border. You'll sleep a little... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language
Be careful- Razg. 1. with whom. Do not trust anyone, be careful, careful. 2. Be alert, alert. FM 2002, 570; FSRY, 138; BTS, 153, 1409; Glukhov 1988, 39 ...
be careful- Don't be too trusting... Dictionary of many expressions
Keep your ear up- Kar. Same as keeping your eyes open. SRGK 1, 454 ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings
Keep your ears open- (foreign language) beware. Wed. Oh, keep your eyes peeled for you! Turgenev. Spring waters. 35. Sanin. Wed. Whoever contacts him is not safe. So keep your ears open!... Dostoevsky. Humiliation and offended. 3, 6. Wed. Please, gentlemen, I... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)
keep your ears open- (foreign language) beware Wed. Oh, keep your eyes peeled for you! Turgenev. Spring waters. 35. Sanin. Wed. Anyone who messes with him is unsafe. So keep your ears open!... Dostoevsky. Humiliation and offended. 3, 6. Wed. If you please, gentlemen, I accept... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary
hold- Keep your word and fulfill your promise. You must keep your word. Keep your mouth shut, be silent, don’t speak when you don’t need to. He promised to keep his mouth shut. Keep your pocket wider (colloquial fam.) don't expect to get it. How...... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language
HOLD- HOLD, I hold, you hold, nev. 1. who what. Have it in your hands. Hold a cigarette. Hold an umbrella. || Don't let go of yourself, force you to be with yourself. The mother held the child tightly by the sleeve. || Grab without allowing you to leave. Stop the thief! 2. who what... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
ear- drum in the ears, fall head over heels in love, go in one ear, go out the other, keep your ears open, tear your ears, plug your ears, and don’t lead with your ears, strong in the ear, screech your ears, prick up your ears, buzz your ears, keep your ears alert, don’t apparently, like your ears, not an ear... ... Synonym dictionary
Books
- God save France! Watching the Parisians, Stefan Clarke. In your hands is a world bestseller - an ironic and witty travelogue novel about a year in the life of 27-year-old Briton Paul West in Paris. Arriving in the Eternal City under a contract to open a network of English...
