keep your eyes peeled/skinned
keep your eyes peeled/skinned
Be particularly watchful; remain alert. This American expression dates from the mid-nineteenth century and presumably likens peeled or skinned to being wide open. An early reference in print occurs in J. S. Robb’s Squatter Life (1847): “Keep your eye skinned for Injuns.”
See also: eye, keep, peel, skinned
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- cat got your tongue, has the
- turn over in one's grave, (enough to make one)
- bottle up feelings, to
- way to a man's heart, the
- past history
- more power to you/him/them
- cat that swallowed the canary, (look) like the
- fighting mad
- bet one's bottom dollar, one can
- keep (one's) eye(s) skinned (for someone or something)