owlish
He sat owlishly surveying the scene through thick glasses.
The headteacher blinked at him owlishly.
Paddy looked around owlishly at the bright lights and the crowd.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Intelligence
acuity
acumen
agility
apt
aptness
brain
grey matter
gumption
highbrow
horse sense
hyper-intelligent
perceptively
percipient
percipiently
perspicacious
perspicaciously
perspicacity
profundity
whip-smart
wisdom

Examples of owlishly

owlishly
Winter noons he wandered out and stared owlishly at the car.
From Project Gutenberg
As it was, he nodded owlishly and waggled his fingers.
From Project Gutenberg
He blinked at her owlishly, incapable of expressing the half-thoughts that dodged in his drugged brain.
From Project Gutenberg
He grinned owlishly, felt of his jaw and then bowed his head, a flush of shame overspreading his face.
From Project Gutenberg
Their knock was answered by a tousled-headed man who stood, lamp in hand, and blinked owlishly at them from the shelter of the doorway.
From Project Gutenberg
Without being sure that he did so, he sat down on the sand and blinked owlishly at the night visitors.
From Project Gutenberg
Oh, dear me, how unspeakably funny and owlishly idiotic and grotesque was that "plagiarism" farce!
From Project Gutenberg
Perhaps she noticed him jump, for she stopped at once and stared at him owlishly.
From Project Gutenberg
His attention arrested by the sound of voices, he peered owlishly over one shoulder.
From Project Gutenberg
Blinking owlishly in the light which had been focused upon him, he was a deplorable sight.
From Project Gutenberg
Then the door opened and the old man, blinking owlishly, stood before me.
From Project Gutenberg
His delight reached the merman, who sat up to gaze owlishly at the coils the stranger pulled from concealment.
From Project Gutenberg
He gazed at her owlishly, one nervous hand fumbling on the blotting-pad before him.
From Project Gutenberg
His note of laughter joined hers as they sat staring owlishly at each other through the dark of the after-storm.
From Project Gutenberg
I sat on the divan and stared at him owlishly.
From Project Gutenberg
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.