ringle-eyedadj.
/rɪŋɡ(ə)lˈʌɪd/, U.S. /ˈrɪŋɡ(ə)lˌaɪd/, Scottish English /rɪŋ(ɡ)(ə)lˈaɪd/, Irish English /rɪŋ(ɡ)(ə)lˈaɪd/ Chiefly Scottish, Irish English, and English regional (northern).
= wall-eyed adj. 1. Also: having a ring of white round the eye.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > deformities of specific parts > [adjective] > of eye
wall-eyeda1400
wolden-eiȝeda1400
ringle-eyed1586
feather-eyeda1640
silver-eyed1695
cyclopian1839
aphakic1889
heterochromic1911
1586 Edinb. Test. XVI. f. 140, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Ringill-eit Ane ringill-eit hors.
1674 in J. Cameron Argyll Justiciary Rec. (1949) I. 42 Ane black mear..with a white [sic] in her fore head, ringle eyed.
1723 A. Ramsay Tea-table Misc. I. 116 He's out-shind, in-kneed and ringle-eyd too.
1887 J. L. Robertson For Puir Auld Scotland's Sake 16 He was all the weirder if he happened at the same time to be red-headed, ringle-eyed, and freckled.
1894 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words (at cited word) The pupil of the eye in a dog, etc., that is ringle-eyed is surrounded by a whity ring.
1897 P. H. Hunter John Armiger's Revenge vi Ane o' thae ringle-e'ed brutes that startle at a' the dibs an' straes on the road.
1910 P. W. Joyce Eng. as we speak it in Ireland xiii. 313 When the iris is light-coloured, and the circle bounding it is very marked, the person is ringle-eyed.
1926 ‘H. MacDiarmid’ Penny Wheep 22 A lass cam' to oor gairden-yett An' ringle-e'ed was she.
1989 M. Canham Blood of Roses xiv. 326 The count stalked away into the curtain of snow, and sought more tangible succour in the arms of Ringle-Eyed Rita.
1995 S. Blackhall Lament for Raj 24 Soo-moued, ringle-eed Jock McBride Is socht bi polismen far an wide.
1997 B. Share Slanguage s.v. Ringle-eyed, having a light-coloured iris in a dark outer circle..; with different-coloured eyes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1586