owly

Adjective

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-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

   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-Canada) Silly.