cockeyed

[kok-ahyd]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cockeyed ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

cross-eyed.

having a squinting eye.

twisted, tilted, or slanted to one side.

Slang.

foolish; absurd.
intoxicated; drunk.
completely wrong.

Origin of cockeyed

1715–25; cock² (v.) + eyed

Related formscock·eyed·ly

[kok-ahyd-lee, -ahy-id-] /ˈkɒkˌaɪd li, -ˌaɪ ɪd-/, adverbcock·eyed·ness, noun

Synonyms for cockeyed

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cockeyed ON THESAURUS.COM

4a. ridiculous, preposterous, insane, nutty, cockamamie, weird.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for cockeyed

absurd, askance, asymmetrical, awry, crazy, crooked, lopsided, ludicrous, nonsensical, preposterous, squint, askant, cam, canted, cross-eyed, strabismic

Examples from the Web for cockeyed

Contemporary Examples of cockeyed

He began, he recalls, by setting forth a cockeyed premise: the Marx brothers selling modern art.
The Stacks: Robin Williams, More Than A Shtick Figure
Joe Morgenstern
August 16, 2014

Historical Examples of cockeyed

It wouldn't do to get cockeyed drunk now, out of respect to the ladies.
L'Assommoir
Emile Zola
There's no telling what can happen next in this cockeyed world.
Dave Dawson at Truk
Robert Sydney Bowen
For some cockeyed reason, I thought of it when Anti was out there.
Accidental Flight
Floyd L. Wallace
The other was cockeyed, half its gears set higher than the other half.
Makers
Cory Doctorow
Half the stuff you see in the papers these days is cockeyed.
Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942
Various

British Dictionary definitions for cockeyed

cockeyed

adjective informal

afflicted with cross-eye, squint, or any other visible abnormality of the eyes

appearing to be physically or logically abnormal, absurd, etc; crooked; askewcockeyed ideas

drunk

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cockeyed

adj.

1821, "squint-eyed," perhaps from cock (v.) in some sense + eye (n.). Figurative sense of "absurd, askew, crazy" is from 1896; that of "drunk" is attested from 1926.