owly

adj — 4 senses

owly

adj

Etymology From owl + -y.

1

Resembling or characteristic of an owl.

  • In the picture Miss Elizabeth showed me the croc had little piggy eyes, not huge owly ones.2010, Tracy Chevalier, Remarkable Creatures, Dutton, published 2010, →ISBN, page 48:
2

Atlantic Canada In a bad mood; cranky.

  • I had no right to be owly and disagreeable with Willie.1988, Janette Oke, Winter Is Not Forever, Bethany House Publishers, published 2010, →ISBN, page 16:
3

Seeing poorly.

  • Perhaps nice isn't the best word for him, but he certainly was an unusually imposing and fluffy-haired and fierce-looking brute of a tarantula. He had rather an owly way about him, as if he had come out from his hole too early and was dazed and half-blinded by the light.1908, Vernon L. Kellogg, “The Vendetta”, in Insect Stories, Henry Holt and Company, page 55:
4

Atlantic Canada Silly.

Synonyms
owlish, owllike, strigine, crabby, cranky, grumpy, ornery, out of sorts
Derived terms
owliness, owly-eyed

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.