dewy-eyed

Adjective

dewy-eyed (comparative more dewy-eyed, superlative most dewy-eyed)

1. Having eyes with a moist, glistening appearance, especially as indicating that one is on the verge of crying or that one is experiencing strong emotions.
   • One she saw clearly—a dewy-eyed, lovely woman who murmured loving, broken words.c. 1910, Stewart Edward White, chapter 1, in The Call of the North
   • Bill Clinton has never shied away from displays of dewy-eyed, lip-biting sentimentality.2000 June 12, Romesh Ratnesar, “The Victory Lap?”, in Time Europe

   Synonyms:

   misty-eyed, teary-eyed

2. (figuratively) Naive or innocent in the manner of a child.
   • At one moment he gave himself up completely to his pride at having captured this pretty, trustful, dewy-eyed thing!1918, John Galsworthy, “The Apple Tree”, in Five Tales
   • Dowie could scarcely have told what phrase or word at last suddenly brought up before her a picture of the nursery in the house in Mayfair—the feeling of a warm soft childish body pressed close to her knee, the look of a tender, dewy-eyed small face and the sound of a small yearning voice saying...1922, Frances Hodgson Burnett, chapter 21, in Robin

   Synonyms:

   callow, green, wet behind the ears

3. (figuratively) Excessively nostalgic.