Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Resembling or characteristic of an owl.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Owllike; resembling an owl or some one of its features.
- Having an appearance of preternatural gravity and wisdom.
- Stupid; dull; fat-witted.
Wiktionary
- adj. resembling or characteristic of an owl
- adj. wise and solemn
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Resembling, or characteristic of, an owl.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. resembling an owl; solemn and wise in appearance
Etymologies
- owl + -ish (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The American nodded with a kind of owlish solemnity.”
“The Canadian-born, "owlish" architect loses his cool with a reporter from the British newspaper the”
“We must first deal with his successor, the owlish Ayman al-Zawahiri and perhaps the Taliban's Mullah Omar.”
“In flashbulbs they went owlish, lacquered in oil blue.”
“Senate Minority Leader McConnell, 68, is owlish, phlegmatic, and gray, and often looks bothered, as though lunch isn't agreeing with him.”
“I suspect that I, too, am a hummingbird trying to learn owlish ways.”
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » How pantsers can embrace the outline
“In comments I admitted I had a hummingbird spirit but was striving to learn owlish ways.”
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » How pantsers can embrace the outline
“Bottom line: Outlines might be more suited to owlish writers, but they can be used effectively by hummingbirds like me, too.”
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » How pantsers can embrace the outline
“Michael Mohun: also a leading man but smaller and somewhat owlish.”
“Alec Guinness was a more assertive presence, with a more mellifluous voice; his Smiley was also older, bordering on elderly, and quizzical bordering on owlish.”
The Wall Street Journal: Nervy 'Young Adult' Dazzles by the Book
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘owlish’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2041 more...
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hauntedtapedeck's Words
hinterland, palimpsest, palisade, thaumaturgy, sangfroid, frisson, crick, patchwork, susurration, disconsolate, septum, elbow and 119 more...
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Words That Populate My Mind
This is a collection of words I love, old ones that I love the sound of when I repeat them for years and new ones coined in news articles on up and coming trends and technologies - most of them I k...
aroma, mojo, blithely, fringe, fray, synchronicity, doublespeak, buzzword, thoughtcrime, portmanteau, newspeak, oldspeak and 963 more...
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Some scrumptious ones
clamberskull, doldrums, apostasy, eulogistic, shallows, copacetic, glad rags, leviathan of fore..., cogent, pantheon, deus ex machina, laissez-faire and 11 more...
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Lovely
whimsy, fisticuffs, shifty, widdiful, wretch, owlish, mincing, arch, lissome, parallax, octothorpe, owlishly
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brin1d2lynn's list
Dooflobbie
Thingamajig
Hootendibbler
Whatchamacallit
Trifling
Mullish
Obstreperous
Impudent
Insolent
Crabby
Cranky
Idiocy
Hul...chagrinery, vexsome, irksome, carbuncle, cantankerous, splendiferous, odious, perfidious, parsimonious, pandemonium, mayhem, erstwhile and 59 more...
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Animal Magnetism
Adjectives derived from animal names but used to describe people
dogged, foxy, bearish, bullish, pigheaded, birdbrained, catty, wolfish, bullheaded, horsy, weaselly, squirrelly and 39 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for owlish.
ecrivaine33 Probably because I am just mad about owls Jan 18, 2007