Dictionary

owlish en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈaʊlɪʃ/

Etymology

Etymology tree English owl Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -isch English -ish English owlish From owl + -ish.

Meanings

1. Resembling or characteristic of an owl.
   • This owl imitated Trumpkin’s voice rather well, and there were sounds of owlish laughter all round. 1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 4, in The Silver Chair, Collins, published 1998:
   • He feebly wanted to get out of this, away from clucking nurses and Dr. Crittenham's owlish peering and the horrible scrambled eggs and cold toast. 1951, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 2, in World So Wide:
   • 1914, Theodore Dreiser, The Titan, Chapter 26, http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/fr100299.txt "You're very right," he said, with owlish smugness, adjusting a waistcoat button that had come loose, and smoothing his cuffs.
2. Wise and solemn.
   • I feel, indeed, that something very ponderous, and solemn, and authoritative, and learned, and wise, and owlish, and erudite, ought to be said. 1914, Julian Leonard Street, Abroad at home; American ramblings, observations, and adventure of Julian Street:
   • He stands precociously possessed of centuries of owlish wisdom. 1874, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, page 87:
   • […] their large black eyes scanned the drawings with the owlish look of wisdom peculiar to connoisseurs. 1880, R. M. Ballantyne, Blown to Bits or, The Lonely Man of Rakata:
3. Stupid; dull-looking.
   • "Any more big words coming?" he asked. "Owlish, stupid, brutal, unloving? That's you all over. Have you murdered anybody?" 2025 April 7, E. F. Benson, Peter, Namaskar Books:
   • But, indeed, the young Venetian is, at that age when all men are owlish, ignorant, and vapid, the most owlish, ignorant, and vapid man in the world. 1874, William Dean Howells, Venetian Life, page 370:

Forms

Deriveds

owlishly · owlishness

Synonyms

owly (like an owl) · owllike (like an owl) · strigine (like an owl)

Translations (3)

gv hulladagh (resembling or characteristic of an owl) · de eulenhaft (resembling or characteristic of an owl) · pt corujento (resembling or characteristic of an owl)