would give a Jew's eye

English

Verb

would give a Jew's eye

  1. (colloquial, idiomatic, dated, now offensive) Would give a great deal; indicating that one desires something greatly.
    • 1865, Skunks (Major, pseud.), The Great Battle of Patchumup (page 32)
      I would give a Jew's eye, I would give my ears, for a five minutes' chat with either of them.
    • 1894, George Cupples, ‎James Hutchison Stirling, Scotch Deer-hounds and Their Masters (page 47)
      Specimens were there visible, not now as yet at all equalled by our most zealous present-day exhibitors, and for a single graft of whose strain, now lost, some of these would give "a Jew's eye."
    • 1910, Thomas W. Hanshew, Cleek: The Man of the Forty Faces
      I'd give a Jew's eye for a handful of those apple blossoms—they are divine!
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