I came across the word eye-glazing in the article of today’s Time magazine (Sept 9) titled ‘Slow Down! Why Some Languages Sound So Fast?’, which I'm sure will interest 'language buffs'.
It begins with (Sorry for a bit lengthy):
“Here's one of the least-interesting paragraphs you've ever read:
'Last night I opened the front door to let the cat out. It was such a beautiful night that I wandered down to the garden to get a breath of fresh air. Then I heard a click as the door closed behind me.’
OK, it becomes a little less eye-glazing after that, with the speaker getting arrested while trying to force the door back open. Still, we ain't talking Noel Coward here.”
I checked online dictionaries to find the exact meaning of eye-glazing. I was able to find many examples of usages of this word, e.g.,
- But the rest of my audience was growing restive, with here and there an eye glazing over. —The Burglar on the Prowl
- I mean, thousands of pages, stuff that's almost eye glazing to read. —CNN Transcript Dec 4, 2002
- The statute has become such an eye glazing mess that it’s easy to forget that in 1965 it was beautifully designed and absolutely essential. —The Volokh Conspiracy
From the above examples I guessed the word means ‘making eyes unfocused, blurred’ (Correct me if I'm wrong), but I couldn’t find its definition in any dictionaries including Cambridge, Merriam-Webster Online, nor Urban Dictionary.
I wonder why eye-glazing which looks as if very colloquial is not registered in any dictionaries, while they accommodate eye-related compounds such as 'eye opening,' 'eye-catching,' and 'eye popping'. Isn’t eye-glazing a popular word?
Best Answer
"Eye-glazing" isn't that common at all. "Eye glazing over" is certainly used, as in "his eyes glazed over". In your main example, the person is commenting on "one of the least-interesting paragraphs" you have ever read, and he is saying, "ok, after these very boring paragraphs, it gets less boring(eye-glazing)".
The term "eye glazing" is usually used in the sense that the person is so bored that his eye glazes over. Also, the "The Burglar on the Prowl" example has the same meaning of boredom.
But is this common? Is "eye glazing" common usage? Taking a look at an Ngram:
By far, "glaze over" is used the most, whereas "eye glazing" although it is used, is not that common. Perhaps that's why it isn't included in most dictionaries.