| 释义 |
▪ I. dilly, n.1|ˈdɪlɪ|
[Abbreviation of diligence2.]
†1. A familiar term for the diligence or public stage-coach of former days. Obs.
1786Mackenzie Lounger No. 54 ⁋5 A coach with eight insides, besides two boys and their governor in the dilly. 1798J. W. Frere Loves of the Triangles (Anti- Jacobin) 179 So down thy hill, romantic Ashbourn, glides The Derby dilly, carrying Three Insides. 1811E. Lysaght Poems 39 Some to avoid mad care's approaches Fly off in dillies, or mail-coaches. 1818Moore Fudge Fam. Paris x. 35 ‘Beginning gay, desperate, dashing down-hilly; And ending as dull as a six-inside Dilly!’ 1894Sir J. D. Astley Fifty Years of my Life I. 93 This always swung at the side of the ‘dilly’ [Note, i.e. diligence].
†2. A kind of vehicle, private or plying for hire. Obs.
1794W. Felton Carriages (1801) II. App. 14 The price of a simple Dilly or Chair Box caned or ruled with springs is five guineas. 1833Marryat P. Simple (1863) 47 We sallied forth, and..found all sorts of vehicles ready to take us to the fair. We got into one which they called a dilly. 1840― Poor Jack xi, Dillies.. plied at the Elephant and Castle.
3. Applied dialectally to various carts, trucks, and other wheeled vehicles, used in agriculture and industrial operations.
1850Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XI. ii. 727 Crops of vegetables..which they carry to the Bristol market in their ‘dillies’ as their light platform carts are called. 1863Morton Cycl. Agric. Gloss., Dilly (West. Eng.), a frame on wheels for carrying teazles and other light matters. 1877N.W. Linc. Gloss., Dilly, a vehicle used for removing manure. 1888Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. 194 Dilly, A cask on wheels for carrying liquids; a water-cart. Also a low four-wheeled truck on which mowing-machines and other implements are drawn. 1892Northumbld. Gloss., The old engine on the Wylam railway was..called..‘the Wylam dilly’. The counter-balance mounted upon two pairs of tramwheels, by means of which the empty tubs in a pit are carried up an incline, is called a dilly.
▪ II. ˈdilly, n.2 colloq. or dial.
A call to ducks; hence, a nursery name for a duck (also dilly-duck).
.. Nursery Song ‘Mrs. Bond’, John Ostler, go fetch me a duckling or two; Cry, dilly, dilly, dilly, dilly, come and be killed. a1845Hood Drowning Ducks xiv, The tenants..Had found the way to Pick a dilly. 1880Blackmore Mary Anerley I. xviii. 283 The sweetness and culture of tame dilly-ducks. 1888Berksh. Gloss., Dill or Dilly, Call for ducks.
▪ III. ˈdilly, n.3
A familiar shortening of daffodilly.
1878Britten & Holland Plant-n., Dilly, an abbreviation of daffodilly. Derby. White Dillies, i.e. white daffodillies, Narcissus poeticus. Lanc.
▪ IV. ˈdilly, n.4
[Shortened from Sapodilla, the name used by Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina II. 87.]
In wild dilly, a small sapotaceous tree, Mimusops Sieberi, found in the W. Indies and on the Florida keys, and yielding a very hard wood.
1895Sargent Silva N. America V. 183 Wild Dilly, discovered on the Bahamas by Mark Catesby. Catesby calls it ‘Sappodillo Tree’.
▪ V. dilly, n.5 slang (orig. U.S.).|ˈdɪlɪ|
[f. dilly a.2]
A delightful, remarkable, or excellent person or thing; freq. ironical.
1935Amer. Mercury June 229/1 Ain't that a dilly (or honey)! 1950‘S. Ransome’ Deadly Miss Ashley vi. 65 She looked as if she had had a rugged night of it; but she was easily repairable and still a dilly. 1951R. S. Prather Bodies in Bedlam vii. 48 In order to get inside you have to pass three guards at three different gates. The first two aren't so tough, but the last one is a dilly if you don't have an appointment. 1958R. Chandler Playback xix. 159 You're the most impossible man I ever met. And I've met some dillies. 1968M. Kane Walk of Devil vii. 79 ‘Did you swing it, Jake?’ Berger asked Winthrop... ‘It's a dilly,’ Winthrop said. 1970Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 1 Dec. 9/4 The new [oil] well, also in Norwegian waters, looks a dilly.
▪ VI. dilly, a.1 dial. or colloq. (chiefly Austral.).|ˈdɪlɪ|
[Perh. f. daft a. + silly a.]
a. (See quot. 1873.)
b. Foolish, stupid, mad.
1873Williams & Jones Gloss. Somersetshire 11 Dilly,..cranky, queer. 1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xvi. 214 Who should come sprintin' upstairs but me nibs, pale's er blessed egg, hair on end—fair dilly. 1908Mrs. A. Gunn We of Never-Never xiii. 168 Gone clean dilly, I believe. 1915C. J. Dennis in Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Apr. 43/2 Ther's a Gawd 'Oo's leaning near To watch our dilly little lives down 'ere. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §151/10 Foolish; nonsensical; ridiculous,..dilly.
▪ VII. dilly, a.2 colloq.|ˈdɪlɪ|
[f. the first syllable of delightful a. or delicious a. + -y6.]
Delightful; delicious.
1909Punch 26 May 362/1, I sent out the ordinary cards..with ‘Dancing’ in one corner of the card, but in the other corner was ‘Bare feet’. Wasn't it a dilly idea? 1922C. E. M. Joad Highbrows iii. 103 Have you heard that new waltz, ‘Luscious Love’? It's simply dilly. |