English

Noun

oeillade ‎(plural oeillades)

1. (literary) A glance, especially an amorous one; an ogle
   • 1608, William Shakespeare, King Lear, IV.4:

     I know your Lady do's not loue her Husband, / I am sure of that: and at her late being heere, / She gaue strange Eliads, and most speaking lookes / To Noble Edmund.

   • 1984, Anthony Burgess, Enderby's Dark Lady:

     ‘My, my,’ she said, with an oeillade meant to be comic.

   • 1999, Michael Billington, The Guardian, 4 Sep 1999:

     But the shifting moral tone is perfectly caught in Helen McCrory's polymorphous Phocion, who is mischievously aware of her sexual power and switches from macho snarls when seducing a woman to flirty oeillades when playing with a man.

Translations

French

Noun

oeillade f ‎(plural oeillades)

1. Nonstandard spelling of œillade.

Usage notes

• The œ ligature is often replaced in contemporary French with oe (the œ character does not appear on AZERTY keyboards), but this is nonstandard.