eye-to-eye

eye-to-eye (comparative more eye-to-eye, superlative most eye-to-eye)

1. Facing the person under discussion.
   • 2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde, page 30:

     So in time Mother learned to perceive me through the mirror. Even to smile at me. (Not eye-to-eye! Never.)

   • 2002, James D. Truax, The Cake-Eater Conspiracy, page 44:

     There seemed to be a tacit understanding that the prisoners and the unit supervisor should not look at one another...at least not eye-to-eye.

   • 2005, Emily Schultz, Michael Moore: a biography, page 139:

     But it does find these two adversaries speaking face to face, if not eye to eye, about the kinds of labor issues that don't often make it to the multiplex.