Arch one's eyelids

[mariana79]

Hi
How could one arch one's eyelids? I saw this in D.H Lawrence's Lost girl where Mr. May, unhappy at hearing there would be no need for his work at the theater, aches his eyelids:

"Of cauce," he said later to Alvina, "I can't possibly stop on if we are nothing but a picture show!" And he arched his blanched and dismal eyelids with ghastly finality.

 

[dojibear]

It sounds impossible to me.

I assume the author means that he arches his eyebrows. It is common to talk about "arching" one's eyebrows.

The book is almost 100 years old, but it does not seem likely that the meaning of "eyelids" was different then.

 

[mariana79]

It sounds impossible to me.

I assume the author means that he arches his eyebrows. It is common to talk about "arching" one's eyebrows.

The book is almost 100 years old, but it does not seem likely that the meaning of "eyelids" was different then.

Thanks

 

[Andygc]

Stand in front of a mirror. Relax. Look at your eyelids. The upper eyelids normally have a fold of loose skin. Arch your eyebrows by opening your eyes as wide as you can. What happens to the loose skin?

You've just arched your eyebrows and your eyelids.

 

[suzi br]

Does the bit above the crease have a separate name? I suppose I’d say the lid was the skin over the eyeball and under the crease but now I wonder about the poor nameless part!

 

[PaulQ]

It's a surprise that Lawrence put "eyelids" into the character's mouth, but given the context in which it was said, I wonder if he was describing "rolling one's eyes" in an expression of irony.

Does the bit above the crease have a separate name?

Is it the "epicanthan fold"? Andygc will know these things...

 

[mariana79]

Stand in front of a mirror. Relax. Look at your eyelids. The upper eyelids normally have a fold of loose skin. Arch your eyebrows by opening your eyes as wide as you can. What happens to the loose skin?

You've just arched your eyebrows and your eyelids.

Thanks Andy.