Definition of with one eye on in US English:

phrase

• Giving some but not all one's attention to.

  ‘I sat with one eye on the clock, waiting for my turn’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Some folk tell me I should be more demanding from the board, but I manage with one eye on the balance sheet.’
  • ‘Judges always interpret the law with one eye on what they think the people want or need.’
  • ‘The way she said it, unprompted, with one eye on the photo lab phone, we imagine she's been waiting, patiently, very patiently, for that day to come.’
  • ‘But Goran isn't the only one with one eye on the football.’
  • ‘Significantly, perhaps with one eye on the next round of consolidation, he said a gap would open up between ‘those who make the top 10 and those who don't’.’
  • ‘But publishing is no longer a profession conducted over claret in oak panelled rooms and today's agents and editors are entrepreneurial types with one eye on the keyboard and another on the mass markets.’
  • ‘Football pundits who report with one eye on who they are likely to upset are soon identified and equally quickly dismissed by our suspicious fans.’
  • ‘Hang on, aren't you the one who said that Crean's policies were devised with one eye on the polls and another on media impact?’
  • ‘Bell makes provocative points about the way in which governments now fight wars with one eye on how the action will play in front of the cameras.’
  • ‘Now I am sitting in an armchair, talking to you, with one eye on the TV.’