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I am translating a text from Russian. I need to render an expression that originally says something like "she flung her eyes open even wider" - but I am not sure this is the right English usage. Is it? And if it is not, what us the best way to convey the meaning?

She could just "fling her eyes open" if they were shut or ajar. But they were already open. "Widened her eyes" seems to lose the atmosphere.

(For those who understand Russian: the original is "она распахнула глаза ещё шире").

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In fact,

her eyes flew wide open

is a fairly common expression, albeit not a particularly tasteful one. Ngram returns quite a few instances, mostly from trashy novels and magazines.

Ngram Results

Then again, I suspect that the Russian original might be somewhat ... uh ... tacky, I guess ... Just saying.

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  • Thanks, going with this one. The "tacky" feeling in that particular paragraph is apparently intentional (the POV of the hero conveys a gender stereotype).
    – Mikhail Ramendik
    Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 22:05
  • @MikhailRamendik Oh. I didn't realize. Well, "Her eyes flew open even wider," then. I retract tacky, it's just plain old corny, though quite comical. Unless "she" had just farted, which would be a different kind of comical. Let me pretend I haven't even considered the possibility of a sexual context: one ought to take sex seriously, and, well, "прекрaсное должно быть величaво," as the poet said. Or something.
    – Ricky
    Commented Nov 1, 2017 at 7:46
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Hillaire Belloc described what you may mean in 'Matilda'. as in 'Matilda told such dreadful lies, it made one gasp and stretch ones eyes', if that's any help. I've always thought it perfectly descriptive.

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One common phrasing is "her eyes went wide". This doesn't necessarily imply the quickness and suddenness that flung does, but I think in most contexts that would be obvious. You can, if necessary, add an adverb such as suddenly.

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It seems that the expression 'eyes flung open' is recorded though it is unusual.

'Eyes flung open' Google (books)

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  • To me that implies that the eyes had been closed; for example, someone's eyes might fling open if you startle them out of sleep. Conversely, it doesn't imply (IMHO) that the eyes are now unusually wide open.
    – ruakh
    Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 17:00
  • Idiomatic's default meaning is 'in common use among native speakers', not 'being an idiom'. Giving the odd example one has found hardly confers acceptability on a string.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 20:41
  • Accepted and edited.
    – Nigel J
    Commented Oct 31, 2017 at 20:47

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