Synonyms

googly

American

[goo-glee] / ˈgu gli /

noun

Cricket.

plural

googlies

a bowled ball that swerves in one direction and breaks in the other.

googly British

/ ˈɡuːɡlɪ /

noun

cricket an off break bowled with a leg break action

"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

Etymology

Origin of googly

First recorded in 1900–05; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Writer Greg Stolze posted a while back about “some professor” who “put googly eyes on a pencil and waved it at his class saying ‘Hi!

From The Wall Street Journal • May 3, 2026

They also remind him of the late comic actor Marty Feldman, whose googly eyes shot off in different directions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

Not long after that, they saw the first bootleg merchandise: a toy version of Mico, el Micófono, a character that is just a microphone with googly eyes that street vendors could easily replicate.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 21, 2025

Shreyas was caught behind too, but the pick of the bunch was a superb googly to bowl Hardik Pandya.

From BBC • Feb. 12, 2025

Then Harry sang “Beautiful Dreamer” while Miss Goodacre made googly eyes at him.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023