owly

comparative owlier · superlative owliest

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

   Synonyms: owlish, owllike, strigine

2. Atlantic CanadaIn 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

   Synonyms: crabby, cranky, grumpy, ornery, out of sorts

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 CanadaSilly.