bull's-eye

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The small central circle on a target.
2. n. A shot that hits this circle.
3. n. A direct hit: scored a bull's-eye on the window with a snowball.
4. n. The precise accomplishment of a goal or purpose: "With his overflowing style, [he] almost always hits the bull's-eye of universality” ( William Zimmer).
5. n. A thick, circular piece of glass set, as in a roof or ship's deck, to admit light.
6. n. A circular opening or window.
7. n. A planoconvex lens used to concentrate light.
8. n. A lantern or lamp having such a lens.
9. n. A piece of round hard candy.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Nautical: An oval wooden block without a sheave, but with a groove around it for the band and a hole in the center through which a small stay or rope may be rove.
2. n. A perforated ball on the jaw-rope of a gaff.
3. n. A small obscure cloud, ruddy in the middle, supposed to portend a hurricane or storm.
4. n. The hurricane or storm itself.
5. n. In architecture, any circular opening for light or air; a bullock's-eye.
6. n. In astronomy, Aldebaran, a star of the first magnitude in the eye of Taurus, or the Bull. See cut under Taurus.
7. n. A round piece of thick glass, convex on one side, inserted into a deck, port, scuttle-hatch, or skylight-cover of a vessel for the purpose of admitting light.
8. n. A small lantern with a convex lens placed in one side to concentrate the light.
9. n. That part of a sheet of crown-glass which has been attached to the pontil. It is thicker than the rest of the sheet, and is not included in the lights or panes of glass cut from it. Bull's-eyes were formerly used in lead-sash windows. As the manufacture of crown-glass has much declined, imitations of bull's-eyes are made for picturesque effects in window-glazing. See bullion, 3.
10. n. A planocon-vex lens in a microscope, which serves as an illuminator to concentrate rays of light upon an opaque micro-scopic object.
11. n. A small and thick old-fashioned watch.
12. n. In archery and gunnery The central or innermost division of a target, usually round and of a different color from the rest. See target.
13. n. A shot that hits the bull's-eye; the best shot that can be made.
14. n. A coarse sweet-meat; a colored or striped ball of candy.
15. n. A local English name of the dunlin, Tringa alpina.
16. n. In meteorology: A small cloud of ruddy aspect which off the coast of South Africa rapidly develops into a local storm.
17. n. The center of a system of circular isobars, such as characterizes an extensive storm. The isobars suggest the appearance of a target with its bull's-eye.
18. n. Hence— The severest part of a storm or the center of a hurricane.
19. n. A fish of New South Wales, Priacanthus macracanthus.
20. n. The labradorite variety of feldspar, with a dusky sheen. Also œil-de-bœuf.

Wiktionary

1. n. alternative spelling of bull's eye.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A small circular or oval wooden block without sheaves, having a groove around it and a hole through it, used for connecting rigging.
2. n. A small round cloud, with a ruddy center, supposed by sailors to portend a storm.
3. n. A small thick disk of glass inserted in a deck, roof, floor, ship's side, etc., to let in light.
4. n. A circular or oval opening for air or light.
5. n. A lantern, with a thick glass lens on one side for concentrating the light on any object; also, the lens itself.
6. n. Aldebaran, a bright star in the eye of Taurus or the Bull.
7. n. The center of a target.
8. n. A thick knob or protuberance left on glass by the end of the pipe through which it was blown.
9. n. A small and thick old-fashioned watch.
10. n. something that exactly succeeds in achieving its goal.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. in target shooting: a score made by hitting the center of the target
2. n. the center of a target
3. n. something that exactly succeeds in achieving its goal
4. n. a lantern with a single opening and a sliding panel that can be closed to conceal the light