Citations:owly-eyed

Adjective: "seeing better in darkness than light; day-blind or photosensitive"

 * 1623 — William Drummond of Hawthornden, "An Hymn of the Fairest Fair", in Flowers of Sion:
 * What wit cannot conceive, words say of thee,
 * Here where we as but in a mirror see,
 * Shadows of shadows, atoms of thy might,
 * Still owly-eyed when staring on thy light;
 * 1994 — Robert Kammen, The Bullet, Zebra Books (1994), ISBN 9780821747513, page 212:
 * All of them except for the major and the Cubans were gathered in there, either playing cards of drinking whiskey. They would all be nursing headaches come sun-up, and owly-eyed.
 * 2005 — Leslie Ernenwein, High Gun, Wheeler Publishing (2005), ISBN 1597220191, page 47:
 * And he doesn't do no riding after dark near Dishpan Flats. Them poor misguided sodbusters ain't much account in most ways, but they're owly-eyed at night."

Adjective: "wide-eyed, naturally or from an expression of fear, shock, surprise, or excitement"

 * 1961 — John Myers Myers, I, Jack Swilling, Founder of Phoenix, Arizona, Hastings House (1961), page 118:
 * Gabe looked owly-eyed at the fellow and then prissed his mouth.
 * 1964 — Fritz Leiber, The Wanderer, Ballantine Books (1976), page 83:
 * "Come on!" Arab said suddenly, catching hold of the upper arms of Pepe and High and digging his fingers in. "World gonna end, I gettin' off. Get away from all these owly-eyed deaders waitin' for the tromp and the trump. One planet go smash, we take another. Come on, before she get away! — We catch her at the river and climb aboard!"
 * 1977 — "Douglas old pro at talk", The Tuscaloosa News, 11 November 1977:
 * After 16 years as host of a TV talk show, Mike Douglas has become something of an expert at pulling an owly eyed guest from the throes of stage fright.
 * 1982 — "A mayor tried and… true?", The Leader-Post, 17 November 1982:
 * On Sunday, Montreal voters, as if by duty, returned their owly-eyed little mayor to office for the eighth time, allowing Drapeau to prolong his reputaiton as one of Canada's most durable politicians.

Adjective: "(slang) extremely drunk"

 * 1935 — Katharine Brush, Don't Ever Leave Me, Farrar & Rinehart (1935), page 173:
 * In the white light that filled these streets and squares, the hot high blaze that somehow could and did survive the drenching rain, he was more clearly limned for her than he had been at any time since she had met him, or in any place. She thought of this, and unregenerately she thought, "What with me getting owly-eyed, and all."
 * 1951 — John Sanford, A Man Without Shoes, Black Sparrow Press (1982), ISBN 0876855443, page 252:
 * Paul was owly-eyed by then, and he tried to hide it by saying, "Must've lost m' balance," but we noticed that when he clapped a fresh holt on, he was using both his graspers.
 * 1961 — Billy Lee Brammer, The Gay Place, University of Texas Press (1995), ISBN 0292708319, page 232:
 * After two martinis and an owly-eyed sip at a third, the girl had passed abruptly into a semi-coma.
 * 2004 — Christina Dodd, One Kiss From You, Thorndike Press (2004), ISBN 9780786262731, page 249:
 * Not a smart man. A stupid man, to be flattered by the praise of an owly-eyed drunk.
 * 2009 —Lisa DeMarco, Serving Up Some Funny, Strategic Book Publishing (2009), ISBN 9781608600694, page 105:
 * But down at the end of the bar, an owly-eyed drunk slammed his hand on the counter and bellowed, "Give the ballerina a drink."