Ivy Bush

Like an owl in an ivy-bush. Having a sapient, vacant look, as some persons have when in their cups; having a stupid vacant stare. Owls are proverbial for their judge-like solemnity, and ivy is the favourite plant of Bacchus. Gray, in his Elegy, refers to the Owl and the Ivy.

“From yonder ivy-mantled tower

The moping owl doth to the moon complain

Of such as, wandering near her secret bower,

Molest her ancient solitary reign.”

Stanza 3.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.