Here's a line from a piece of Japanese fiction:

> 切れ長の目が、さみしげに細められていた。

I'm wondering if this is simply saying:

> He narrowed his lonely(?) eyes

(? - It's hard to tell without Kanji but I think this is the meaning)

But I've been told that in Japanese, when it says someone is narrowing their
eyes it means they're smiling. Is the above perhaps referring to this idiom or
is it simply someone narrowing their eyes literally.

(From the context I think could go either way, character A tells character B
that they wish them a good life before B leaves them for a new life abroad.
The above was describing A right after A says "I wish you a good life" to B)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-22T22:31:19.583
44777
2017-03-22T23:07:32.353
20382
question
meaning expressions idioms
Is this referring to an Idiomatic way to say someone is smiling?
> 「目{め}を細{ほそ}める」

can mean both " **to squint** " and " **to smile** ".

Without more context, it is difficult to tell which one it is used for in the
sentence in question.

I myself would be inclined to think it is the former because of the use of
「さみしげに」, but this is no place for speculation.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-22T23:07:32.353
44779
2017-03-22T23:07:32.353
44777
answer