peeled

[comloulou]

what are the origins of the phase "keep your eyes peeled"?

[geofbob]

I wouldn't have thought that there was any particular origin. "Peel" means "uncover" - as with an orange, a banana, or ourselves when we peel off our clothers - so the phrase simply means "keep your eyes uncovered".

[lord_morgan]

I believed that its origin could lie with the "peelers" - the old name for the police.

[Quizmonster]

The phrase first appeared in print in the USA in the St Louis 'Daily Morning Herald' in 1853. It took the form of a piece of advice..."Young man! Keep your eye peeled when you are after the women." As another answer has already suggested, it clearly means 'open'.

[comloulou]

I understand what it means, I was more interested in why it came into being when "keep your eyes open" would clearly have sufficed!.....