"cow eyes" meaning in English

See cow eyes in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Etymology: From the appearance of a cow's eyes. Head templates: {{en-noun|p}} cow eyes pl (plural only)
  1. (US, informal) A wide-eyed expression meant to discreetly signal otherwise unstated romantic attraction to the one it is directed at. Tags: US, informal, plural, plural-only Synonyms: sheep's eye, the equivalent in British English Derived forms: to make cow eyes, v., cow-eyed, adj. Translations (a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance): kaihoisa katse (Finnish), occhi vitulini [masculine, plural] (Italian), влюблённый взор (vljubljónnyj vzor) [masculine] (Russian)
    Sense id: en-cow_eyes-en-noun-BMPG4I8N Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header, English pluralia tantum

Download JSON data for cow eyes meaning in English (2.9kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "From the appearance of a cow's eyes.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p"
      },
      "expansion": "cow eyes pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English pluralia tantum",
          "parents": [
            "Pluralia tantum",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "to make cow eyes"
        },
        {
          "word": "v."
        },
        {
          "word": "cow-eyed"
        },
        {
          "word": "adj."
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2001, David Weber, John Ringo, March Upcountry, Baen Books, page 272",
          "text": "\"... And you were making cow eyes at him, snotty attitude and all.\"\n\"I was not making cow eyes at him,\" Despreaux insisted firmly.\n\"Call it what you want, girl,\" the older woman said with a grin. \"I call it cow eyes.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Ruth Jean Dale, Kimberly Raye, One in a Million & Love, Texas Stlye, Harlequin, page 173",
          "text": "\"Cow eyes?\" Brett's gaze shot to Suzanne. \"You were making cow eyes at me?\" Not that he knew what cow eyes were, but from the fierceness of Mama Jessup's expression and the way Suzanne blushed, cow eyes definitely counted as the non-contact version of a butt squeeze.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Caroline B. Cooney, An April Love Story, Open Road Media, page 122",
          "text": "\"What makes you think I am worried about Lucas?\"\n\"All you ever do is make cow eyes at him ...\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A wide-eyed expression meant to discreetly signal otherwise unstated romantic attraction to the one it is directed at."
      ],
      "id": "en-cow_eyes-en-noun-BMPG4I8N",
      "links": [
        [
          "expression",
          "expression"
        ],
        [
          "romantic",
          "romantic"
        ],
        [
          "attraction",
          "attraction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, informal) A wide-eyed expression meant to discreetly signal otherwise unstated romantic attraction to the one it is directed at."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "sheep's eye"
        },
        {
          "word": "the equivalent in British English"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance",
          "word": "kaihoisa katse"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance",
          "tags": [
            "masculine",
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "occhi vitulini"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "vljubljónnyj vzor",
          "sense": "a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "влюблённый взор"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "note": "гла́зки m or pl (glázki) (a flirting look, lit.: \"little eyes\")",
          "sense": "a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cow eyes"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "to make cow eyes"
    },
    {
      "word": "v."
    },
    {
      "word": "cow-eyed"
    },
    {
      "word": "adj."
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From the appearance of a cow's eyes.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p"
      },
      "expansion": "cow eyes pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English pluralia tantum",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2001, David Weber, John Ringo, March Upcountry, Baen Books, page 272",
          "text": "\"... And you were making cow eyes at him, snotty attitude and all.\"\n\"I was not making cow eyes at him,\" Despreaux insisted firmly.\n\"Call it what you want, girl,\" the older woman said with a grin. \"I call it cow eyes.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Ruth Jean Dale, Kimberly Raye, One in a Million & Love, Texas Stlye, Harlequin, page 173",
          "text": "\"Cow eyes?\" Brett's gaze shot to Suzanne. \"You were making cow eyes at me?\" Not that he knew what cow eyes were, but from the fierceness of Mama Jessup's expression and the way Suzanne blushed, cow eyes definitely counted as the non-contact version of a butt squeeze.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Caroline B. Cooney, An April Love Story, Open Road Media, page 122",
          "text": "\"What makes you think I am worried about Lucas?\"\n\"All you ever do is make cow eyes at him ...\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A wide-eyed expression meant to discreetly signal otherwise unstated romantic attraction to the one it is directed at."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "expression",
          "expression"
        ],
        [
          "romantic",
          "romantic"
        ],
        [
          "attraction",
          "attraction"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, informal) A wide-eyed expression meant to discreetly signal otherwise unstated romantic attraction to the one it is directed at."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "informal",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "sheep's eye"
    },
    {
      "word": "the equivalent in British English"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance",
      "word": "kaihoisa katse"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance",
      "tags": [
        "masculine",
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "occhi vitulini"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "vljubljónnyj vzor",
      "sense": "a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "влюблённый взор"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "note": "гла́зки m or pl (glázki) (a flirting look, lit.: \"little eyes\")",
      "sense": "a secretive, pining look, or humble doting glance"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cow eyes"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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