different between owly vs oily

owly

English

Etymology

owl +? -y

Adjective

owly (comparative owlier, superlative owliest)

  1. Resembling or characteristic of an owl.
    • 2010, Tracy Chevalier, Remarkable Creatures, Dutton (2010), ?ISBN, page 48:
      In the picture Miss Elizabeth showed me the croc had little piggy eyes, not huge owly ones.
  2. In a bad mood; cranky.
    • 1988, Janette Oke, Winter Is Not Forever, Bethany House Publishers (2010), ?ISBN, page 16:
      I had no right to be owly and disagreeable with Willie.
  3. Seeing poorly.
    • 1908, Vernon L. Kellogg, "The Vendetta", in Insect Stories, Henry Holt and Company (1908), page 55:
      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.

Synonyms

  • (like an owl): owlish, owllike, strigine
  • (in a bad mood): crabby, cranky, grumpy, ornery, out of sorts

Derived terms

  • owliness
  • owly-eyed

References

  • T. K. Pratt, Dictionary of Prince Edward Island English, University of Toronto Press (1988), ?ISBN, pages 107-108
  • The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, The Century Co. (1897), Volume 5, page 265

Anagrams

  • Lowy, yowl

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oily

English

Alternative forms

  • oyly (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English oylei, equivalent to oil +? -y. Compare German ölig (oily), Swedish oljig (oily).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /???li/
  • Rhymes: -??li

Adjective

oily (comparative oilier, superlative oiliest)

  1. Relating to or resembling oil.
    • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Chapter 11,[1]
      There were no breakers and no waves, for not a breath of wind was stirring. Only a slight oily swell rose and fell like a gentle breathing, and showed that the eternal sea was still moving and living.
  2. Covered with or containing oil.
    • 1853, Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener,”[2]
      His clothes were apt to look oily and smell of eating-houses.
    • 1917, Robert Hichens, In the Wilderness, Chapter ,[3]
      [] overdressed young men of enigmatic appearance, with oily thick hair, shifty eyes, and hands covered with cheap rings, swaggered about smoking cigarettes and talking in loud, ostentatious voices.
  3. (figuratively) Excessively friendly or polite but insincere.
    • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I, Scene 1,[4]
      [] for I want that glib and oily art
      To speak and purpose not, since what I well intend,
      I’ll do’t before I speak []
    • 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, Chapter 22,[5]
      Mr Carker the Manager, sly of manner, sharp of tooth, soft of foot, watchful of eye, oily of tongue, cruel of heart, nice of habit, sat with a dainty steadfastness and patience at his work, as if he were waiting at a mouse’s hole.
    • 1914, Algernon Blackwood, “The Damned,”[6]
      ‘He had an inflexible will beneath all that oily kindness which passed for spiritual []

Derived terms

  • oiliness
  • smell of an oily rag

Translations

Noun

oily (plural oilies)

  1. A marble with an oily lustre.
    • 1998, Joanna Cole, Stephanie Calmenson, Michael Street, Marbles: 101 ways to play
      Lustered (also called lusters, rainbows, oilies, and pearls).
    • 2001, Paul Webley, The economic psychology of everyday life (page 39)
      But marbles are not only used to play games: they are also traded. In this market, the value of the different kinds of marbles (oilies, emperors, etc.) is determined by local supply and demand and not by the price of the marbles []
  2. (in the plural, informal) Oilskins. (waterproof garment)

oily From the web:

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