Citations:owly

Adjective: "resembling or characteristic of an owl"

 * 1987 — Alan Brien, Lenin: The Novel, Morrow (1987), ISBN 9780688079444, page 513:
 * It seemed to me that the curtains were mostly drawn closed, with only an occasional mousy nose or an owly eye peeping out, while each coachman up above adopted the clenched, concentrated expression of someone on a mission of life or death.
 * 1996 — Robin Hobb, The Farseer: Royal Assassin, Bantam Books (1996), ISBN 9780553897494, page 290:
 * Regal's eyes went owly.
 * 1999 — Susan Wittig Albert, Lavender Lies, Berkeley Prime Crime (1999), ISBN 9781101127537, page 188:
 * She pushed her big owly glasses up on her nose and said, "Listen, China, I've been in worse situations. Have I ever told you about the time we planned to feed lunch to a hundred and fifty and —"
 * 2001 — Pamela Duncan, Moon Woman, The Dial Press (2005), ISBN 0385335210, page 28:
 * Chuck leaned forward and smiled, crinkling the corners of his owly green eyes.
 * 2002 — Ellen Cooney, White Palazzo, Coffee House Press (2002), ISBN 1566891345, page 114:
 * Her voice was light and buoyant, and something about it made Guida think of colors like yellow and white, instead of owly-gray, or black, or brown.
 * 2004 — Sue Limb, Girl, 15: Charming But Insane, Bloomsbury Publishing (2012), ISBN 9781408812877, page 57:
 * The middle-aged woman who ran the place looked disapprovingly at them over her owly glasses.
 * 2004 — Louise Rennison, Away Laughing on a Fast Camel, HarperTempest (2004), ISBN 9780060589363, page 43:
 * Miss Wilson looked at me through her owly glasses.
 * 2006 — Stephen King, Lisey's Story, Scribner (2006), ISBN 0743293738, page 92:
 * Darla blinked at her in owly surprise.
 * 2006 — Sue Limb, Girl, Going on 17: Pants on Fire, Delacorte Press (2006), ISBN 9780375891755, page 111:
 * Fred shrugged and looked down at her, but he did not make the soft owly hooting noise which was part of their secret understanding.
 * 2010 — Tracy Chevalier, Remarkable Creatures, Dutton (2010), ISBN 9781101152454, page 48:
 * In the picture Miss Elizabeth showed me the croc had little piggy eyes, not huge owly ones.

Adjective: "in a bad mood; cranky"

 * 1876 — Julie P. Smith, His Young Wife, G. W. Carleton & Co. Publishers (1878), page 235:
 * On the very rare occasions when he had addressed a remark to his wife and she had pleasantly replied, the old lady had cut in with some tart observation, putting an end to further talk, and her son found her as owly as did Slowgo.
 * 1901 — Thomas West Hammond, On Board A Whaler, G. P. Putnam's Sons (1901), page 329:
 * "We got out of that all hunky and was a-settlin' into the next one, when a reg'lar old sock-dollinger come a-pilin' up higher, and higher, and higher, 'till I swow, it looked as if the whole dummed ocean was comin' in a-top us. It did look owly, and no mistake. By gum, but it did look owly enough, and that was when the old man flunked."
 * 1956 — Frederick Manfred, Morning Red, Alan Swallow (1956), page 387:
 * "Polly's right," Perth said. "His Honor is awfully owly today. Crabby. Like an old rooster with a broken bill in a pan of fresh wheat. Personally, I wouldn't go in there with you if you was to promise me all the virgins in Brokenhoe. On an innerspring mattress. Buttered."
 * 1959 — William Campbell Gault, Drag City, E. P. Dutton & Co. (1959), page 128:
 * "Finally, he said, "All right, all right! I'm owly. I got beat in my first run by a car I figured to beat, and I'm owly. But does that mean I'm sub-human, or something? Just get off my back, all of you, and I'll be okay."
 * 1968 — Charlie W. Shedd, Letters to Philip: On How to Treat a Woman, Jove Publications (1978), ISBN 9780515064957, page 74:
 * My wife seems to match her mood to mine. If I come home happy, she's happy. If I'm owly, she's owly."
 * 1981 — Ernest K. Gann, The Aviator, Random House (1985), ISBN 9780345322531, page 139:
 * "The snow is much deeper here and it hasn't snowed. And besides I saw the old trail turn off that way a while ago and I just thought, well, you knew a better way to get back where you wanted to go. That's all I thought. You don't have to get owly with me, Jerry."
 * "I'm not owly. I'm just tired. And I apologize."
 * 1982 — Anne Cameron, The Journey, Spinsters/Aunt Lute Book Company (1986), ISBN 9780933216242, page 147:
 * "You're gettin awfully owly, aren't you?" Pilgrim growled.
 * "You wait and see how goddamn owly I can get," she promised, as Dan moved off easily toward the gate.
 * 1983 — Garrison Keillor, Life Among the Lutherans, Augsburg Books (2010), ISBN 9781451400861, page 105:
 * And the trees are bare and the grass is brown and the people are owly.
 * 1985 — Tracy Kidder, House, Mariner Books (1999), ISBN 9780618001910, page 94:
 * "I was owly. I'd fight with Lindy and take off through the woods for half a day."
 * 1988 — Janette Oke, Winter Is Not Forever, Bethany House Publishers (2010), ISBN 9780764208027, page 16:
 * I had no right to be owly and disagreeable with Willie.
 * 2004 — Julian Barnes, "Hygeine", in The Lemon Table, Knopf (2004), ISBN 9781400042142:
 * As you got older, your head for the sauce wasn't what it used to be. You couldn't tie one on like in the old days. So you drank less, enjoyed it more, and ended up just as newted and owly as before.
 * 2010 — Kaki Warner, Pieces of Sky, Berkeley Sensation (2010), ISBN 9781101171356, page 145-146:
 * He reared back, wondering if he'd heard right. He must have, judging by her owly look. But she stood her ground, damn her, offering no apologies or excuses.

Adjective: "seeing poorly"

 * 1908 — Vernon L. Kellogg, "The Vendetta", in Insect Stories, Henry Holt and Company (1908), page 55:
 * 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.