Literal translation
to turn red right up to the whites of the eyes
Meaning
to blush from head to toe
Explanation
This phrase pushes the common image of a face reddening with emotion, shame, anger or embarrassment, to its extreme by having that redness spread all the way to the one part of the face usually spared: the whites of the eyes. The hyperbole underlines the intensity of the emotion by suggesting that not a single part of the face escapes it, not even the eyes themselves. Literal and figurative meaning almost merge, and the French idiom of blushing to the roots of one's hair offers an immediate equivalent for a French-speaking reader. The word uei means eye or eyes depending on context, and appears in several Provençal expressions tied to the gaze and to facial appearance. The phrase belongs to a vivid, slightly theatrical register, used to recount a scene where someone is caught at fault, showered with compliments, or overcome by an emotion too strong to hide.