pie-eyed

adj

Etymology: From pie (“type of pastry consisting of an outer crust and a filling”) + eyed, a hyperbole suggesting that a person’s eyes are open so wide that they are as large as pies.

1. With one's eyes wide open and staring in an expressionless manner; wide-eyed.

   “[H]ere I've been roosting all day long, with nothing to do but gaze at this bunch of would-be scribes grinding out jazz copy, and now, at half-past four, that pie-eyed zebra of a Sunday editor has to hand me an assignment about as concrete as a hunk of Hudson River mist; and I've got a date with Vita for supper at six.”

   “Of all the blockheads in the world, I have the finest collection working for me. Terence Tadpole is a dolt, Sidney Squirrel is a sentimental idiot, Freddie Fox is a pie-eyed fool, Felix Frog is a perfect imbecile.”

2. (Extremely) drunk or intoxicated.

   “"He's just pie-eyed," said Dart quietly. "God knows how much straight alcohol he's had. Better come over here, Andy."”

   “I sat there, getting more and more pie-eyed, without anyone noticing, as far as I could judge, since the sole manifestation of my drunkenness was that my tongue was looser than usual.”