a. Forms: α. 5 wawil-, waugle-, 6 whaule-, 7 whale-, 6– wall-eyed; β. 5 wald-eȝed. [The surviving form descends from ME. wawil-eȝed, a. ON. vagl-eyg-r, occurring only once, and explained in the context to mean ‘having speckled eyes.’ The second element, -eygr, is regularly f. auga EYE sb. The first element, vagl, is of obscure origin; it coincides in form with vagl beam of wood, roost, perch (Da., Norw. vagl, Sw. vagel) which is used in the Icel. New Testament of 1540 for the ‘beam’ in the eye spoken of in Matt. vii. 3–4; it is, however, prob. a distinct word, not recorded separately in ON., but surviving in mod. Icel. vagl film over the eye, Sw. vagel sty in the eye.
Beside wawil-eȝed ME. had a synonymous wald-eȝed. This is commonly believed to be a. ON. vald-eygð-r; but that word is only a conjectural reading for valldægðr, occurring in a series of adjs. designating certain defects that a horse may have; the context does not show whether a physical blemish or a fault of temper is referred to, and if -agðr be correct it must app. mean ‘-scared.’ A strong point in favour of the correction to valdeygðr is the coincidence with the ME. form; but the meaning of vald- remains obscure. Cf. mod. Slesvig dial. valdøict having a running from the eyes (quoted by Molbech from Outzen’s MS. collections), which Outzen would derive from valde dial. var. of Da. valle whey.
The rare ME. WOLDENEȜED seems to be synonymous with wawil-eȝed, wald-eȝed, and if so is prob. an alteration of the latter form due to the influence of ME. *walden, OE. ʓewealden small (preserved, with different sense, in Sc. WALDIN a.). See also WALNYED a., Cf. WALDENEIE, prob. a similar variant of WALL-EYE.]
1. Having one or both eyes of an excessively light color, so that the iris is hardly distinguishable from the white. In ME. and in modern dialects (see Eng. Dial. Dict.), also in other senses: Having eyes of differing color; having eyes or an eye streaked or particoloured. Also, having a divergent squint, which exposes an excessive proportion of the white of the eye.
In many examples the sense cannot be determined.
a. of human beings.
[13[?]. see WOLDEN-EȜED.]
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 608. And he [Alexander] wald-eȝed was, as þe writt schewys ȝit … [Lines 606–7 say that one eye was black and the other yellow]. Ibid., 1706. A wawil-eȝed [Dubl. waugle-eghed] shrewe.
1552. Huloet, Whaule eyed, glauciolus.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., V. i. 44. Say wall-ey’d slaue, whether would’st thou conuay This growing Image of thy fiend-like face?
1601. Holland, Pliny, XI. xxxvii. I. 334. Augustus … had red eies like to some horses: and indeed wall eied he was, for the white thereof was much bigger than in other men.
1806–7. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life, XX. § 25. Wall-eyed portraits in mildewed crayons.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, iii. Captain Deadeye was a staid, stiff-rumped, wall-eyed … veteran.
1866. Livingstone, Last Jrnls. (1873), I. i. 25. A wall-eyed ill-looking fellow.
b. of horses. (See quot. 1831.)
1590. Durham Wills (Surtees), II. 184. To … my brother-in-law, one baie stagge, wall-eyed.
1607. Markham, Cavel., II. 6. The Horse that is whale-eyde, or white eyed, is for the most part shrewd, craftie, full of toyes, and dim sighted.
1702. Lond. Gaz., No. 3857/4. A small black Gelding,… Wall or Silver-Ey’d.
1714. J. Walker, Suffer. Clergy, II. 281/2. He had called those Wall ey’d Horses that would not come to the Rails to receive the Communion.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 96. The moon’s beams … are very apt to make him wall-eyed and to give him grievous coughs.
1766. Goldsm., Vicar W., x. I objected that walking would be twenty times more genteel than such a paltry conveyance, as Blackberry was wall-eyed, and the colt wanted a tail.
1831. Youatt, Horse, vi. 93. Horses perfectly white, or cream-coloured, have the iris white, and the pupil red. When horses of other colours … have a white iris and a black pupil, they are said to be wall-eyed. Vulgar opinion has decided that a wall-eyed horse is never subject to blindness, but this we believe to be erroneous.
1836. Haliburton, Clockm., Ser. I. xvii. He shewed the whites of his eyes like a wall-eyed horse.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, VI. vi. Mounted on a white mule, wall-eyed and of hideous form.
1871. M. Collins, Mrq. & Merch., III. iv. 107. He was a wall-eyed horse.
c. transf.
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxxix. A little, pale, wall-eyed, woe-begone, inn. Ibid. (1865), Mut. Fr., III. xvi. The counting-house was a wall-eyed ground-floor by a dark gateway.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Deronda, ix. Diplow Hall … which had for a couple of years turned its white window-shutters in a painfully wall-eyed manner on its fine elms and beeches,… was being prepared for a tenant.
¶ d. Used for: Dim-sighted, purblind.
1873. Punch, 3 May, 182/1. Wall-eyed people who stick their noses to each picture as though they wished to smell it.
e. slang. (See quot.)
1847. Halliwell, s.v., Any work irregularly or ill done, is called a wall-eyed job. It is applied also to any very irregular action.
† 2. ? Having glaring eyes (indicative of rage or jealousy).
Quot. 1613 may be an echo of Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 24, ‘[His] whally eyes (the signe of gelosy).’
1595. Shaks., John, IV. iii. 49. The vildest stroke That euer wall-ey’d wrath, or staring rage Presented to the teares of soft remorse.
1613. ? Marston, Insat. C’tess, I. A 2 b. Hee … mued mee vp like Cretan Dedalus, And with wall-ey’d Ielousie kept me from hope Of any waxen wings to flye to pleasure.
3. U.S. Of fishes: Having large prominent eyes. Wall-eyed pike: see quots.
1868. Rep. U. S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 330. The wall-eyed pike, (Lucio perca).
1883. Goode, Fish. Industr. U.S. (Fish Exhib. Publ.), 71. Many millions of eggs of the whitefish, lake-trout, and wall-eyed pike are obtained in the waters of Lake Erie. Ibid. (1888), Amer. Fishes, 13. The largest and most important form is Stizostedion vitreum, generally referred to by recent writers upon fishes as the Wall-eyed Pike.
