walleyed
Americanadjective
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having eyes in which there is an abnormal amount of the white showing, because of divergent strabismus.
-
having large, staring eyes, as some fishes.
-
marked by excited or agitated staring of the eyes, as in fear, rage, frenzy, or the like.
He stood there in walleyed astonishment.
-
having an eye or the eyes presenting little or no color, as the result of a light-colored or white iris or of white opacity of the cornea.
Etymology
Origin of walleyed
1300–50; Middle English wawileghed, waugle eghed < Old Norse vagleygr, equivalent to vagl- (meaning uncertain; compare Icelandic vagl film over the eye) + -eygr -eyed; see eye; compare Old English waldenīge
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.
“It’s very goofy, and that is the reason why we call him Derpy Tiger. Those drawings are very derpy. He’s always walleyed and weird looking.”
From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2025
His large eyes, luminous skin, thin body, and slightly walleyed expression accentuated the impression of speaking to an “extraterrestrial,” as Paris Match once put it.
From The Verge ● Mar. 28, 2018
So the musical question has been what your preferred accompaniment is to clenching your teeth, clutching the wheel, and going as walleyed as the fish on the cover of Vince Staples’ album.
From Slate ● Dec. 25, 2017
He was walleyed and skeletal—you could see every bone in his cranium.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 29, 2016
She had also had a nervous breakdown or two, and sometimes, in repose, she got a kind of walleyed look that made me nervous.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
