fish-eyed

See also: fisheyed

English

Alternative forms

• fisheyed

Etymology 1

Adjective

fish-eyed (comparative more fish-eyed, superlative most fish-eyed)

1. Having eyes like those of fish.
   • 2012, Andy Remic, Toxicity, Solaris, →ISBN:

     “You mean, like a tribe of fish-eyed monsters living down here?”

   • 2017, H.S. Crow, Lunora and the Monster King, →ISBN, page 8:

     PETRA: Is a ravenous and deranged fish-eyed monster with a sickly complexion on Whisper Isle.

   • 2019, Tim Waggoner, Dark Ages Gangrel, Mystique Press, →ISBN:

     The bloody sea churned as thousands of sharp-toothed, fish-eyed monsters surged toward the man that had slain them in the world of the living.

   • 2019, Felicia Rosshandler, Landing in New York: Memoir Stories, →ISBN:

     Our images were of miniscule fish-eyed creatures, with knobs and protrusions, the kind we had seen in biology books.

2. Characterized by an unblinking stare that lacks warmth or friendliness.

   Coordinate terms: dead-eyed, glassy-eyed

   • 1909 October, Marion Hamilton Carter, “The Vampire of the South”, in McClure’s Magazine, volume XXXIII, number 6, page 617:

     If you speak to one of these saffron-hued natives, especially to one of the children, you are generally met by a very curious, fish-eyed stare without a gleam of intelligence back of it, and you wait long before you get a reply.

   • 1942 September 19, Albert Richard Wetjen, “Mr. Price Tones Down”, in The Saturday Evening Post, volume 215, number 12, page 98:

     He flicked off his cigarette ash again and looked at me, fish-eyed.

   • 1970, E[mil] Richard Johnson, The God Keepers, Harper & Row, →LCCN, page 96:

     Why should a homicide with all the obvious possibilities look like a bit of frame work for two men? Why? Both being such fine possibilities for the green room like they were, and being so nicely motivated, like they also were, could make a cop look very fish-eyed at the whole setup and wonder exactly what was behind that abundance of good suspects for a homicide.

   • 2013, Axel Howerton, Hot Sinatra, Evolved Publishing, →ISBN, page 95:

     Arturo sighed heavily and gave me a fish-eyed look, as if I was wasting his life by even being there.

3. Visually distorted as if seen through a fisheye lens.
   • 1995, Carroll Dale Short, The Shining Shining Path, Montgomery, Ala.: Black Belt Press, →ISBN, page 257:

     The fish-eyed hole showed only an empty mauve hallway at first, but then a dot of yellow came in fast from the left and enlarged to fill the circumference of the view before receding toward the right, the direction of the elevators.

   • 1999 July, Jason D’Aprile, “Aliens versus Predator”, in PC Accelerator, number 11, page 74:

     The Alien is almost surreal to play, with its slightly fish-eyed view, breakneck speed, and ability to run across any surface from floor to ceiling, while the Predator’s toughness and power shine through above the puny humans, who must rely on faster weapons, armor, and decent speed to survive.

   • 2001 April, Alex Kidman, “The revolution will not be televised”, in Australian Personal Computer, page 34:

     The high-camera view was excellent, giving the impression you’re watching from the stands, but the stumpcam produced a very fish-eyed picture.

4. Having a fisheye lens.
   • 2010, Roger Stahl, Militainment, Inc.: War, Media, and Popular Culture, New York, N.Y., London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 72:

     In the final scene, the fish-eyed camera plummets headlong down the rope toward the ground in the idiom of the helmet-cammed bungee jump.

   • 2015, Alexandra Duncan, Sound, Greenwillow Books, HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 140:

     Any moment now, someone is going to notice us on one of the hundreds of fish-eyed cameras built into the walls and rafters.

   • 2023, J. R. Ward [pen name; Jessica Rowley Pell Bird Blakemore], Forever, Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 284:

     Arriving at the closed door, he knocked, and then looked up to the discreetly mounted fish-eyed camera that was at the ceiling.

Related terms

• fisheye
• walleyed

Etymology 2

Verb

fish-eyed

1. simple past and past participle of fish-eye