Owl in an Ivy Bush (Like an)

Very ugly, a horrible fright [of a fellow]. Said of (or to) a person who has dressed his head unbecomingly, or that has a scared look, an untidy head of hair, or that looks inanely wise. The ivy bush was supposed to be the favourite haunt of owls, and numerous allusions to this supposition might be readily cited.

“Good ivy, say to us what birds hast thou?

None but the owlet that cries ‘How, how!ʹ”

Carol (time Henry VI.).

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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.