Jaundiced eye

Posted by ESC on February 18, 2003

In Reply to: Jaundiced eye posted by Travis on February 18, 2003

:
: I know what seeing something with a jaundiced eye means. What is the orgin of the phrase?

: Travis

JAUNDICED EYE - "A prejudiced view. Jaundice, a condition brought on by several diseases, turns various parts of the body yellow ('jaune' is the French word for yellow.) Among them may be the eyes. It was once believed that the person looking through such eyes saw everything as yellow. By extension, the jaundiced eye came to mean a prejudiced view, usually rather negative or critical. Bishop Joseph Hall said in 1640, in one of his many religious writings: 'Jaundised eies seem to see all objects as yellow." Alexander Pope, in 'An Essay on Criticism' , wrote: All seems infected that the infected spy, As all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye.'" From The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).