walleyed

See also: wall-eyed

English

Alternative forms

wall-eyed

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English wawil-eghed, Middle English wolden-eiged (“having very light-colored eyes; having parti-colored eyes”), from Old Norse vagl-eygr (“having speckled eyes”), in turn from Old Norse vagl (“speck or beam in the eye”) (compare Icelandic vagl (“film over the eye”), Swedish vagel (“stye in the eye”)) and Old Norse eygr, from Old Norse auga, which is cognate to English eye.[1][2]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈwɔːlaɪd/

Adjective

walleyed (comparative more walleyed, superlative most walleyed)

Having eyes with a pale-coloured iris.
Having eyes of different colours.
Suffering from exotropia.
- c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iii]:
  […] this is the bloodiest shame,
  The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke,
  That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage
  Presented to the tears of soft remorse.
- 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 2,
  A nose of land ran out into the sea from Tanoo and split the village into two parts; the parts diverged at a slight angle, so that the village of Tanoo had a wall-eyed stare out over the sea.
- 1967, Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita, translated by Michael Glenny, Signet, Book One, Chapter 18, p. 197,
  The little man only came up to Poplavsky's shoulder, but he reduced him to mortal terror with his fang, his knife and his walleyed squint, and he had an air of cool, calculating energy.
(of fish) Having bulging eyes.

Derived terms

walleye (back-formation)
walleyed pike

Translations

having eyes with a pale coloured iris

Dutch: met glasogen
German: Birkauge (de)

having eyes of different colour

Dutch: ogen met verschillende kleuren
French: vairon (fr)

suffering from exotropia

Dutch: ogen met divergent strabisme

having bulging eyes

Bulgarian: с изпъкнали очи (s izpǎknali oči)
Dutch: uitpuilende ogen

References

“walleye, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.
Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “wall-eyed”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 2022-11-04.

[OED-1] “walleye, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.

[2] Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “wall-eyed”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 2022-11-04.