Definition of "eyespot" [eyespot]

• A small, light-sensitive patch of pigment in certain algae and unicellular organisms. (noun)
• A simple visual organ of certain invertebrates consisting of a sensory ending covered by light-sensitive, pigmented cells. (noun)
• A rounded eyelike marking, as on the tail of a peacock. (noun)
• Botany Either of two fungal diseases that affect grasses and are characterized by oval lesions. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And here were pairs of brown butterflies called, I believe, the small heath, with a distinctive eyespot on the wing, observed when they came to rest, wings always closed."
• "No stigmata, no eyespot for her infamy, no language yet for lies when Lester and Josephine Jukes come to take her away."
• "Carrying this thought further, how could Lamarckism create a complicated organ like the eye, or even a simple eyespot?"