squiffy
/ˈskwɪfi
/adjective (squiffier, squiffiest) British informal
1Slightly drunk: I feel quite squiffy...
- You'd think I'd have learned long ago not to argue with those with a slightly squiffy glint in their eye.
- I protest that this is unfair as I am slightly squiffy, but they insist.
- In fact, shopping while slightly squiffy on cocktails is probably the closest any lady can get to heaven, in my opinion.
2Askew; awry: the graphics make your eyes go squiffy...
- I read about it somewhere, they can make your brain go all squiffy.
- Whereas cocodamol are great for sending a person squiffy in the head, they're pretty useless for relieving agonising back pain.
- Well, when I first start the treatment I get a couple of days feeling a little squiffy and disoriented.
Derivatives
squiffily
- With the huge rink on view in the background, Lord Charles, from his vantage point of the bar, would squiffily contemplate his whisky glass and demand: "Is there any ice in this place?"
- It's good to know that there will always, always, be at least one dancefloor where the rugby club will still be stomping their feet in an extended circle and student nurses will still be squiffily sashaying along to the strains of the Grease Megamix.
- Throughout his political career, his favourite way of suggesting statesmanship has been to narrow his eyes and peer squiffily into the not-quite-middle distance.
Origin
Mid 19th century: of unknown origin.