† 1. A soreness of the eyes. Obs.
(In quot. a. 1300 perh. an adj.)
a. 1300[?]. Salomon & Sat. (1848), 272. Betere is eyesor þen al blynd, quoþ Hendyng.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. (1568), 76 a. Dates … ar hurtfull for them that haue … the eysore and … the tooth ache.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 94. Muche lookyng so, breedth much eie sore.
2. Something permanently offensive to the sight; an ugly mark or feature.
1530. Rastell, Bk. Purgat., III. viii. 2. Ye spottes … be than a great deformyte & eye sore.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. (1611), 445. These eysores and blemishes, in continuall attendants about the seruice of Gods Sanctuarie.
1607. Markham, Caval., III. 14–5. To bee … sickle hought behinde … is not amisse, though it bee a little eye-sore.
1726. Leoni, trans. Alberti’s Archit., I. 19 b. He is continually repenting and fretting at the Eye-sore.
1827. Steuart, Planter’s G. (1828), 136. This, in parks much exposed, is found a very serious eye-sore.
1867. A. Barry, Sir C. Barry, viii. 288. All the eyesores on the Surrey bank of the river.
† b. On a horse: A scar; also a flaw, defect. Obs.
1678. Lond. Gaz., No. 1346/4. A dapple grey Gelding … an eye sore above his hoof upon one of his hinder legs.
1690. Dryden, Don Sebastian, I. i. 18. He’s the best piece of Man’s flesh in the Market, not an Eye-sore in his whole body.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4795/4. An Eye-sore on the near hind Foot caused in Pacing.
3. A cause of annoyance, offence or vexation; an object of dislike or disgust.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xvi. 137. He might haue been an iyesore to all.
1586. J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 63/2. I wote well how great an eiesore I am in your sight.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Rem. (1644), 98. Thou shalt be a burthen, and an Eye sore to thy friends.
1759. B. Martin, Nat. Hist. Eng., I. Hants, 125. The French … to whom they have always been an Eye-sore.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb. (1861), 119. The onion patches of Pyquag were an eyesore to Jacobus Van Curlet and his garrison.
1876. Mozley, Univ. Serm., x. 234. Many of their neighbours are eyesores to them, and the very sight of them interrupts their repose.
attrib. 1875. W. M‘Ilwraith, Guide to Wigtownshire, 59. Antiquated and eyesore erections.
