dollyn.1
/ˈdɒli/, U.S. /ˈdɑli/ 1. A familiar pet-form of the name Dorothy (= doll n.1 1).
ΚΠ
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist iii. iii. sig. G3v To Dol Common, So much the easier to be cossin'd, my Dolly.
1841 R. W. Emerson Spiritual Laws in Ess. 1st Ser. (London ed.) 166 The great soul incarnated in some..Dolly or Joan.
2. † a. A female pet or favourite. Obsolete slang.
Categories »
b. A drab, slattern, useless woman. dialect or colloquial.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > illicit intimacy > person > a mistress
chevesea700
wifeOE
bed-sister1297
concubine1297
leman1297
file1303
speciala1400
womanc1400
chamberer?a1425
mistress?a1439
cousin1470
doxy?1515
doll1560
pinnacea1568
nobsya1575
lier-by1583
sweetheart1589
she-friend1600
miss1606
underput1607
concupy1609
lig-by1610
factoress1611
leveret1617
night-piece1621
belly-piece1632
dolly1648
lie-bya1656
madamc1660
small girl1671
natural1674
convenient1676
lady of the lake1678
pure1688
tackle1688
sultana1703
kind girl1712
bosom-slave1728
pop1785
chère amie1792
fancy-woman1819
hetaera1820
fancy-piece1821
poplolly1821
secondary wife1847
other woman1855
fancy-girl1892
querida1902
wifelet1983
1648 R. Herrick Hesperides sig. D5 Kisse our Dollies night and day.
1706 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus II. v. 13 And so away he led his Dolly.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Dolly, a slattern.
1873 W. H. Dixon Hist. Two Queens I. iii. vi. 149 Puebla..took his seat at table with these dollies and their mates.
1883 T. Lees Easther's Gloss. Dial. Almondbury & Huddersfield (at cited word) ‘He's got a maungy dolly for a wife.’
c. A girl or woman, esp. a young, attractive one. colloquial.
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the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > pleasing appearance > [noun] > prettiness > specifically of woman > pretty girl or woman
primerolea1350
jolyvet1413
prim1509
nicebeceturc1520
bit of stuff?1553
nicebice1595
dabchick1612
rosebud1668
doll1778
living doll1785
a bit (also bundle) of muslin1823
a bit (also piece) of all right1895
bit of fluff1903
dolly1906
baby doll1908
cutiea1911
cutie-pie1920
kewpie1946
tchotchke1968
tchotchkeleh1985
1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xiv. 181 Now I wouldn' turn it [sc. beer] down fer ther toffest Dolly on ther block.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §382/2 A female, esp. a girl or young woman,..dolly.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §427/3 Cute girl,..dolly.
1968 Observer 21 Jan. (Colour Suppl.) 5/1 Every bird, dolly, housewife, and career girl in Britain today owes something to the ladies on the left.
1968 Daily Mirror 20 Aug. 9/3 He is very gone on girls, is always falling wildly in and out of love with dishy dollies.
3.
a. A pet name for a child's doll. (Also treated as the personal name of a female doll.)
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > doll > [noun]
poppin1440
mammet1461
man of clouts, king of clouts1467
pup-barn?c1475
poppet1483
babe1530
poupe1530
baby1545
puppet1550
baban1570
puppy1659
doll1699
baby doll1725
dolly1790
doll-baby1807
babushka1948
1790 D. Morison Poems 82 Like some braw dally drawn on delf, Or china ware.
1865 E. C. Clayton Cruel Fortune I. 143 A ragshop, with its black dolly dangling over the door.
1884 Internat. Health Exhib. Official Catal. 137/2 Dolly as a baby, as a girl, as a young lady, as a lady.
b. Cricket (colloquial). (a) A donkey-drop (see donkey n. Compounds 2); (b) a very easy catch (cf. dolly adj. b).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > [noun] > a ball bowled > types of delivery or ball
full toss1826
long hop1830
twister1832
bail ball1833
bailer1833
grubber1837
slow ball1838
wide1838
ground ball1839
shooter1843
slower ball1846
twiddler1847
creeper1848
lob1851
sneak1851
sneaker1851
slow1854
bumper1855
teaser1856
daisy-cutter1857
popper1857
yorker1861
sharpshooter1863
headball1866
screwball1866
underhand1866
skimmerc1868
grub1870
ramrod1870
raymonder1870
round-armer1871
grass cutter1876
short pitch1877
leg break1878
lob ball1880
off-break1883
donkey-drop1888
tice1888
fast break1889
leg-breaker1892
kicker1894
spinner1895
wrong 'un1897
googly1903
fizzer1904
dolly1906
short ball1911
wrong 'un1911
bosie1912
bouncer1913
flyer1913
percher1913
finger-spinner1920
inswinger1920
outswinger1920
swinger1920
off-spinner1924
away swinger1925
Chinaman1929
overspinner1930
tweaker1938
riser1944
leg-cutter1949
seamer1952
leggy1954
off-cutter1955
squatter1955
flipper1959
lifter1959
cutter1960
beamer1961
loosener1962
doosra1999
1906 A. E. Knight Compl. Cricketer App. II. 344 Donkey-drop or dolly, a slang term for slow, dropping bowling.
1956 N. Cardus Close of Play 78 But he might give Mr. Champain an over or two of his ‘dollies’.
1969 P. Dickinson Pride of Heroes 40 Sir Ralph bowls me a dolly, watches me cart it for six, and records his admiration.
4. Applied to various contrivances fancied to resemble a doll in some way.
a. dialect. A wooden appliance with two arms, and legs or feet, used to stir and twirl clothes in the wash-tub, called a dolly-tub; also called dolly-legs or dolly-stick, peggy, maiden. The name is sometimes less correctly given to the tub, and extended to mechanical contrivances fulfilling the same purpose; also to an apparatus for agitating and washing ore in a vessel; and to a beetle for linen, beating hemp, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > stick to stir washing
maiden1752
dolly1793
doll1841
peggy1860
dolly peg1879
maid1882
poting stick1892
potstick1922
1793 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 39. 308 The Dumb Dolly, or a machine for washing, is recommended.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Dolly..a washing tub.
a1855 W. T. Spurdens Forby's Vocab. E. Anglia (1858) III. 14 Dolly, a beetle used in ‘bunching hemp’, as a punishment, in bridewell.
1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Dolly, in mining parlance a perforated board, placed over a tub containing ore to be washed, and which being worked by a winch-handle, gives a circular motion to the ore.
1869 R. B. Smyth Gold Fields Victoria 609 Dolly, an instrument used by diggers for dividing and mixing the tough clay or cement with water in the puddling-tub.
1877 F. Ross et al. Gloss. Words Holderness (at cited word) Dolly-tub, a barrel-shaped machine for washing clothes which are stirred about with a pronged-instrument, called a dolly-stick.
1884 Athenæum 26 Apr. 533/1 One sort of dolly is a barrel-formed tub, in which a beater is worked by hand up and down.
1892 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words Dolly, a clothes washing stick, made with feet, but otherwise like a poss-stick.
1894 Superfl. Woman (ed. 4) I. 159 [The] dolly-tub stood with some of the wet linen hanging on the side.
b. Pile-driving. A short length of timber or metal set on the top of a pile to act as a buffer between it and the ram; also used to lengthen the pile when driven out of the reach of the ram; a punch.
ΚΠ
1838 F. W. Simms Public Wks. Great Brit. (1846) ii. 22 Cast-iron dolleys, weighing about 1¾ cwt., were fitted to the tops of the main piles to receive the blows.
1868 Minutes Proc. Inst. Civil Engineers 27 318 A timber dolly was used between the pile and the ram.
c. Australian. Gold-mining. A rude appliance somewhat on the principle of a pile-driver, used to crush auriferous quartz.
ΚΠ
1869 R. B. Smyth Gold Fields Victoria 609 Dolly..a log of wood shod with iron and suspended from a sapling over a stump, and used in the early days for crushing quartz.
1880 G. Sutherland Tales of Goldfields 75 For the purpose of testing the quartz they employed a very primitive apparatus, which the miners call a dolly.
d. A machine for punching iron; a tool used in forming the head of a rivet.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > driving or beating tools > [noun] > tool for driving in rivets > for shaping head
dolly1848
snap1869
snap head1875
1848 Inv. Wallsend Colliery (Northumbld. Gloss.) A punching dolley, 16½ cwts.
1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuilding xvii. 340 The holder-up..after having driven the head [of the rivet] well up by a few heavy blows, holds upon it with a large hammer or a tool called a ‘dolly’.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) IV. 134/2 A workman..presses against the head with..a mass of iron termed a ‘dolly’.
e. A contrivance with a covering of rags, polish, etc., used in various trades for polishing.
ΚΠ
1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 213 Wooden dollies of suitable shape covered with the finest doe skin and rotated in the lathe are used.
1891 S. O. Addy Suppl. Gloss. Words Sheffield Dolly, a wheel covered by rags, and used by cutlers in polishing their wares.
f. colloquial and dialect. A binding of rag round a hurt finger, etc.
ΚΠ
1888 B. Lowsley Gloss. Berks. Words & Phrases
g. An apparatus for street gambling. (See quot. 1874.)
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [noun] > wheel, etc.
dolly1874
spinning-jenny1879
punch board1912
paddle wheel1926
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 4/1 The Proprietors of Street Games, as swings..down the dolly, spin-'em-rounds, [etc.].]
1874 Hotten's Slang Dict. (rev. ed.) 146 Dolly, a very mild gambling contrivance..consisting of a round board and the figure of an old man or ‘Dolly’, down which was a spiral hole. A marble dropped ‘down the Dolly’, would stop in one of the small holes or pits (numbered) on the board.
1891 Daily News 5 Sept. 7/3 The stock-in-trade of the offenders, chiefly roulette tables and ‘dollies’, being destroyed by order of the Court.
h. A small platform on wheels or rollers, used as a truck or conveyance; spec. a mobile platform on wheels on which a film- or television-camera can be moved about; (see also quot. 1955). Originally U.S.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicle moving on wheels > [noun] > platform on wheels > with small low wheels
bogiec1817
truck frame1850
dolly1901
bummer1905
skate1905
1901 S. Merwin & H. K. Webster Calumet ‘K’ vi. 104 Other gangs were carrying them [sc. planks] away and piling them on ‘dollies’ to be pulled along the plank runways to the hoist.
1901 S. Merwin & H. K. Webster Calumet ‘K’ xiii. 246 And every stick that leaves the runway has got to go on a dolly.
1929 Bookman Feb. 622 ‘Moving in’ or ‘trucking up’ means wheeling the camera (on a small rubber tired wagon or ‘dolly’) closer to the characters.
1937 Electronics June 14/3 The camera is mounted in a mechanically controllable mount, and this in turn may be placed on a movable platform or ‘dolly’ so that it can be moved about over the set.
1948 Time 21 June 1/2 With a heavy truck and a tractor pulling, and one of these dollies under each corner, the derrick..was moved 3½ miles.
1955 Amer. Speech 30 91 Dolly, a retractable support for a semi-trailer when it is not connected to a tractor.
1961 G. Millerson Technique Television Production iii. 27 Two small cranes (or power-operated dollies) and two pedestal cameras will meet the reasonable demands of even an elaborate drama production.
1970 Commerc. Motor 25 Sept. 101/2 Converter dollies for use with standard haulage semi-trailers.
i. South African. A lure for fish (see quot. 1957).
ΚΠ
1930 C. L. Biden Sea-angling Fishes of Cape 136 The lure or ‘dolly’ as the fishermen term it.
1957 S. Schoeman Strike! 117 Professional fishermen catch thousands [of snoek] on ‘dollies’, which are cigar-shaped pieces of lead..with a large barbless hook attached. A few thin strips of shark skin or pork rind or even a piece of red rag or silver paper is tied to the shank of the hook.
j. Electrical Engineering. (See quot. 1940.)
ΚΠ
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 257/2 Dolly, the operating member of a tumbler switch; it consists of a small pivoted lever projecting through the outer cover.
Compounds
C1. General attributive. (Cf. also dolly adj. c.)
a.
dolly-land n.
dolly system n.
ΚΠ
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 110/2 The Dolly system... The name is derived from the black wooden doll, in white apparel, which generally hangs dangling over the door of the marine-store shops.
b. (In sense 4h.)
dolly camera n.
ΚΠ
1958 M. Dickens Man Overboard ii. 30 The cameraman..climbed up to his perch on the big dolly camera.
dolly-pusher n.
ΚΠ
1956 H. Grisewood in A. Pryce-Jones New Outl. Mod. Knowledge iii. 423 These various sorts of structores and imaginarii were the dolly-pushers, the cameramen..of the ancient world.
dolly shot n.
ΚΠ
1933 in C. Winchester World Film Encycl. 481/2 ‘Dolley shot’, a moving camera shot.
C2.
dolly-bag n. = Dorothy bag n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > bag > [noun] > woman's bag
ridicule1799
indispensable1800
reticule1801
pocketbook1830
handbag1873
purse bag1881
chain-bag1902
peggy bag1904
Dorothy bag1907
peggy purse1911
pochette1912
dolly-bag1926
purse1940
bucket bag1956
1926 R. H. Mottram Crime at Vanderlynden's 29 She carried the day's takings clasped to her breast, in a solid little leather dolly-bag.
1958 Birmingham Evening Mail 27 Mar. 6/6 Dollybags swinging from the arm.
dolly-bar n. ‘a block or bar in the trough of a grindstone which is lowered into the water to raise the latter against the face of the stone by displacement’ (E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech.).
dolly-legs n. see 4a.
ΚΠ
1869 J. C. Atkinson Peacock's Gloss. Dial. Hundred of Lonsdale Dolly-legs, an implement with five or six legs for washing.
dolly-man n. (a) one who keeps a dolly-shop; (b) one who works with a dolly.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > moneylending > [noun] > one who lends money > one with whom pawn deposited > pawnbroker
fulker1568
broker1583
uncle1606
pawnbroker1658
lumberer1802
dolly-man1851
pawn1851
nunky1875
Shylock1930
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 110/2 A poor person driven to the necessity of raising a few pence..goes to the dolly-man.
dolly mixture n. a mixture of tiny coloured sweets of various shapes; also transferred, figurative and attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > confections or sweetmeats > sweets > [noun] > a sweet > small sweets
hundreds and thousands1894
Jimmy1949
dolly mixture1957
1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy vi. 167 The ‘dolly-mixtures’ pleasures of a constant diet of odd snippets, of unrelated scrappy facts, each with its sugary little kernel of ‘human interest’.
1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren ix. 166 Other current sweet-shop favourites appear to be the same as thirty years ago, in fact bull's eyes, jelly babies, and dolly mixture have entered schoolchild language as descriptive nouns.
1959 I. Opie & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren ix. 169 A chap who has got duck's disease is..labelled..dolly mixture (after a species of very small sweet).
dolly-mop n. slang a drab.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirty person > [noun] > woman or girl
slut1402
dawa1500
drab?1518
dawkin1565
suss?1565
mab1568
drassock1573
daggle-tail1577
drossel1581
driggle-draggle1588
draggle-tail1596
soss1611
slatternc1640
slutterya1652
feague1664
traipse1676
drazel1678
mopsy1699
dab1736
slammerkin1737
rubbacrock1746
trollop1753
dratchell1755
heap1806
dolly-mop1834
sozzle1848
tat1936
scrubber1959
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > prostitution > [noun] > a prostitute
meretrixOE
whoreOE
soiled dovea1250
common womanc1330
putec1384
bordel womanc1405
putaina1425
brothelc1450
harlot?a1475
public womanc1510
naughty pack?1529
draba1533
cat1535
strange woman1535
stew1552
causey-paikera1555
putanie?1566
drivelling1570
twigger1573
punka1575
hackney1579
customer1583
commodity1591
streetwalker1591
traffic1591
trug1591
hackster1592
polecat1593
stale1593
mermaid1595
medlar1597
occupant1598
Paphian1598
Winchester goose1598
pagan1600
hell-moth1602
aunt1604
moll1604
prostitution1605
community1606
miss1606
night-worm1606
bat1607
croshabell1607
prostitute1607
pug1607
venturer1607
nag1608
curtal1611
jumbler1611
land-frigate1611
walk-street1611
doll-common1612
turn-up1612
barber's chaira1616
commonera1616
public commonera1616
trader1615
venturea1616
stewpot1616
tweak1617
carry-knave1623
prostibule1623
fling-dusta1625
mar-taila1625
night-shadea1625
waistcoateera1625
night trader1630
coolera1632
meretrician1631
painted ladya1637
treadle1638
buttock1641
night-walker1648
mob?1650
lady (also girl, etc.) of the game1651
lady of pleasure1652
trugmullion1654
fallen woman1659
girlc1662
high-flyer1663
fireship1665
quaedama1670
small girl1671
visor-mask1672
vizard-mask1672
bulker1673
marmalade-madam1674
town miss1675
town woman1675
lady of the night1677
mawks1677
fling-stink1679
Whetstone whore1684
man-leech1687
nocturnal1693
hack1699
strum1699
fille de joie1705
market-dame1706
screw1725
girl of (the) town1733
Cytherean1751
street girl1764
monnisher1765
lady of easy virtue1766
woman (also lady) of the town1766
kennel-nymph1771
chicken1782
stargazer1785
loose fish1809
receiver general1811
Cyprian1819
mollya1822
dolly-mop1834
hooker1845
charver1846
tail1846
horse-breaker1861
professional1862
flagger1865
cocodette1867
cocotte1867
queen's woman1871
common prostitute1875
joro1884
geisha1887
horizontal1888
flossy1893
moth1896
girl of the pavement1900
pross1902
prossie1902
pusher1902
split-arse mechanic1903
broad1914
shawl1922
bum1923
quiff1923
hustler1924
lady of the evening1924
prostie1926
working girl1928
prostisciutto1930
maggie1932
brass1934
brass nail1934
mud kicker1934
scupper1935
model1936
poule de luxe1937
pro1937
chromo1941
Tom1941
pan-pan1949
twopenny upright1958
scrubber1959
slack1959
yum-yum girl1960
Suzie Wong1962
mattress1964
jamette1965
ho1966
sex worker1971
pavement princess1976
parlour girl1979
crack whore1990
1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple I. iv. 46 His liberty's stopped for getting drunk and running after the Dolly Mops!
1894 G. Du Maurier Trilby (1895) 58 A dirty, drabby, little Dolly-mop of a Jewess.
dolly-pedal n. a tool used by chainmakers in welding the ends of a link.
dolly peg n. dialect a wooden implement, shaped like a stool with a long handle projecting upwards from it, used for agitating clothes in a wash-tub; = sense 4 above; cf. peggy n.2 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > stick to stir washing
maiden1752
dolly1793
doll1841
peggy1860
dolly peg1879
maid1882
poting stick1892
potstick1922
1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. Dolly-peg, an implement similar in intention to the dolly, but differing from it in form and mode of action.
1917 Harrods Gen. Catal. 1111 (caption) Dolly Peg..2/9.
1987 Spectator 11 July 25/1 A woman came every Monday to do the household laundry with a tub and a dolly-peg.
dolly-shop n. a marine store, a shop where rags, bottles, etc. are bought, frequently having a black doll hanging outside as a sign, and often serving as a low or illegal pawn-shop.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > moneylending > [noun] > pawnshop
Lombard1609
lumber1617
lumber-house1677
pawnshop1720
rumbo ken1724
pop-shop1772
spout1819
pawnbrokery1821
dolly-shop1851
pawn1868
hock-shop1871
poverty shop1948
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 110/2 The dolly-shops are essentially pawn-shops, and pawn-shops for the very poorest.
dolly-tub n. see 4a.
Derivatives
ˈdollydom n. = dolldom n. at doll n.1 Derivatives.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > toy or plaything > doll > [noun] > state or world of dolls
dollhood18..
dolldom1860
doll-land1871
dollydom1882
1882 Society 30 Dec. 9/2 Dollydom is a vast study now.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
dollyn.2
/ˈdɒli/, U.S. /ˈdɑli/ Anglo-Indian.
‘A complimentary offering of fruit, flowers, vegetables, sweetmeats and the like, presented usually on one or more trays; also, the daily basket of garden produce laid before the owner by the Mālī or gardener’ (Yule).
ΚΠ
1860 W. H. Russell My Diary in India 1858–9 II. xi. 202 In the evening the Rana's dolly, or offering, was brought in.
1889 Lady Dufferin Our Viceregal Life in India (1890) ii. 51 A native gentleman sent me what they call a ‘Dolly’, which is really a trayful of presents.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
dollyadj.
/ˈdɒli/, U.S. /ˈdɑli/ a. Like a doll; dollish, babyish; also, stupid, foolish.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupidity, dullness of intellect > [adjective]
sloweOE
stuntc960
dullOE
hardOE
stuntlyc1000
sotc1050
dillc1175
dulta1225
simplea1325
heavy1340
astonedc1374
sheepishc1380
dull-witteda1387
lourd1390
steerishc1411
ass-likea1425
brainless?a1439
deafc1440
sluggishc1450
short-witted1477
obtuse1509
peakish1519
wearish1519
deaf, or dumb as a beetle1520
doileda1522
gross1526
headlessa1530
stulty1532
ass-headed1533
pot-headed1533
stupid?1541
sheep's head1542
doltish1543
dumpish1545
assish1548
blockish1548
slow-witted1548
blockheaded1549
surd1551
dull-headed1552
hammer-headed1552
skit-brained?1553
buzzardly1561
witless1562
log-headeda1566
assy1566
sottish1566
dastardly1567
stupidious1567
beetle-headed1570
calvish1570
bluntish1578
cod's-headed1578
grout-headed1578
bedaft1579
dull-pated1580
blate1581
buzzard-like1581
long-eared1582
dullard1583
woodena1586
duncical1588
leaden-headed1589
buzzard1592
dorbellical1592
dunstical1592
heavy-headeda1593
shallow-brained1592
blunt-witted1594
mossy1597
Bœotian1598
clay-brained1598
fat1598
fat-witted1598
knotty-pated1598
stupidous1598
wit-lost1599
barren1600
duncifiedc1600
lourdish1600
stockish1600
thick1600
booby1603
leaden-pated1603
partless1603
thin-headed1603
leaden-skulledc1604
blockhead1606
frost-brained1606
ram-headed1608
beef-witted1609
insulse1609
leaden-spirited1609
asininec1610
clumse1611
blockheadly1612
wattle-headed1613
flata1616
logger-headeda1616
puppy-headeda1616
shallow-patedc1616
thick-brained1619
half-headed1621
buzzard-blinda1625
beef-brained1628
toom-headed1629
thick-witted1634
woollen-witted1635
squirrel-headed1637
clod-pated1639
lean-souled1639
muddy-headed1642
leaden-witteda1645
as sad as any mallet1645
under-headed1646
fat-headed1647
half-witted1647
insipid1651
insulsate1652
soft-headed1653
thick-skulleda1657
muddish1658
non-intelligent1659
whey-brained1660
sap-headed1665
timber-headed1666
leather-headeda1668
out of (one's) tree1669
boobily1673
thoughtless1673
lourdly1674
logger1675
unintelligenta1676
Bœotic1678
chicken-brained1678
under-witted1683
loggerhead1684
dunderheaded1692
unintelligible1694
buffle-headed1697
crassicc1700
numbskulled1707
crassous1708
doddy-polled1708
haggis-headed1715
niddy-noddy1722
muzzy1723
pudding-headed1726
sumphish1728
pitcher-souleda1739
duncey1743
hebete1743
chuckheaded1756
dumb1756
duncely1757
imbecile1766
mutton-headed1768
chuckle-headed1770
jobbernowl1770
dowfarta1774
boobyish1778
wittol1780
staumrel1787
opaquec1789
stoopid1791
mud-headed1793
borné1795
muzzy-headed1798
nog-headed1800
thick-headed1801
gypit1804
duncish1805
lightweight1809
numbskull1814
tup-headed1816
chuckle-pate1820
unintellectuala1821
dense1822
ninnyish1822
dunch1825
fozy1825
potato-headed1826
beef-headed1828
donkeyish1831
blockheadish1833
pinheaded1837
squirrel-minded1837
pumpkin-headed1838
tomfoolish1838
dundering1840
chicken-headed1842
like a bump on a log1842
ninny-minded1849
numbheadeda1852
nincompoopish1852
suet-brained1852
dolly1853
mullet-headed1853
sodden1853
fiddle-headed1854
numb1854
bovine1855
logy1859
crass1861
unsmart1861
off his chump1864
wooden-headed1865
stupe1866
lean-minded1867
duffing1869
cretinous1871
doddering1871
thick-head1873
doddling1874
stupido1879
boneheaded1883
woolly-headed1883
leaden-natured1889
suet-headed1890
sam-sodden1891
dopey1896
turnip-headed1898
bonehead1903
wool-witted1905
peanut-headed1906
peanut-brained1907
dilly1909
torpid-minded1909
retardate1912
nitwitted1917
meat-headed1918
mug1922
cloth-headed1925
loopy1925
nitwit1928
lame-brained1929
dead from the neck up1930
simpy1932
nail-headed1936
square-headed1936
dingbats1937
pinhead1939
dim-witted1940
pea-brained1942
clueless1943
lobotomized1943
retarded1949
pointy-headed1950
clottish1952
like a stunned mullet1953
silly (or crazy) as a two-bob watch1954
out to lunch1955
pin-brained1958
dozy1959
eejity1964
out of one's tiny mind1965
doofus1967
twitty1967
twittish1969
twatty1975
twattish1976
blur1977
dof1979
goofus1981
dickheaded1991
dickish1991
numpty1992
cockish1996
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > pleasing appearance > [adjective] > pretty > inanely pretty
keepsake1839
dolly1853
dollish1865
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xxviii. 276 A dolly sort of beauty perhaps.
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. iv. 28 You are a chit and a little idiot..or you wouldn't make such a dolly speech.
1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 43/2 Dolly, dumm.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xviii. [Penelope] 724 Grinning all over his big Dolly face..didnt he look a balmy ballocks.
b. In games, esp. Cricket, denoting a very easy catch, shot, etc. colloquial.
ΚΠ
1895 Eng. Dial. Dict. (at cited word) Such a dolly-catch.
1903 G. L. Jessop in H. G. Hutchinson Cricket v. 130 These simple ‘dolly’ catches are much more difficult to hold than those from hard drives.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 2 Mar. 12/2 Till then he had played a grand game, and had saved many clever shots, only in the end to be beaten by a ‘dolly one’.
1955 Times 11 July 4/3 Lane-Fox..failed to get to the pitch of the ball and cocked up a dolly catch.
c. Usually applied to a girl: attractive; fashionable. colloquial.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > attractiveness > [adjective]
gracious1340
glorious skinnyc1400
drawing1435
gracefulc1449
attrayant1477
well-favoured1539
alluring1567
graceda1586
attracting1589
attractive1592
winning1596
appealing1598
taking1603
allicient1613
enchantinga1616
motive1615
temptinga1616
allurant1631
catchinga1640
gaining1642
canny1643
charmful1656
charming1664
mignon1671
disarminga1718
prepossessing1737
seducing1749
seductive176.
eye-catching1770
sweet1779
catchy1784
attaching1785
engaging1816
cute1834
cunning1843
taky1854
cynosural1855
smart1860
fetching1880
seductious1883
fruity1900
barry1923
hot stuff1928
swoony1934
dishy1961
dolly1964
jiggy1996
aegyo2007
1964 Telegraph (Brisbane) 6 Apr. 8/1 Take note, girls... Our London men report that you haven't really been given top-of-the-pops praise by your boyfriend unless he has called you a Dolly Bird.
1967 Sun 22 Feb. 6/6 Dolly, groovy, cool, hippy, fashionable.
1967 Punch 6 Dec. 872/2 It studies tradition, ‘dolly girls’, protest, pop, film stars, pop art and the American influence.
1970 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird vi. 89 The Chinaman..really was dolly, with a long yellow face.
1971 ‘R. Crawford’ Badger's Daughter i. i. 13 You'll have to take..that dolly-bird you hide in Romford with you.
Derivatives
ˈdolliness n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > pleasing appearance > [noun] > prettiness > specifically of woman
dolliness1889
dollishness1893
1889 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ Crooked Path I. vi. 193 Her greatest charm..was her dolliness.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
dollyv.
/ˈdɒli/, U.S. /ˈdɑli/ Originally dialect and technical.
1.
a. transitive. To stir or wash (clothes) in a dolly-tub (see dolly n.1 4a); to beat (linen).
ΚΠ
1847–78 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words
1869 J. C. Atkinson Peacock's Gloss. Dial. Hundred of Lonsdale Dolly, to wash linen, etc. with the dolly-legs.
b. Smelting and Chain-making: To beat (red-hot metal) with a hammer, dolly, etc.
ΚΠ
1831 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal I. 85 These lumps..are drawn from the furnace and dolleyed, or beaten into cakes with hammers.
c. Gold-mining. To crush (auriferous quartz) with a dolly (see dolly n.1 4c); to obtain (gold) by this process; also of the quartz: To yield (so much gold) by this method.
ΚΠ
1894 Dundee Advertiser 5 July 4 The men are now ‘dollying’ 1000 ounces a day.
1895 Chambers's Jrnl. 12 668/1 He dollied, or ground, his little bits of rock by means of a contrivance resembling a pestle and mortar.
1896 Daily News 23 Jan. 9/5 This has the richest stone we have got so far, it dollies about 8 grains to the pound.
d. To prettify; to doll up (see doll v.2).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautify (the person) [verb (transitive)]
highta1200
atiffe?c1225
tiff?c1225
wyndre?a1366
kembc1386
picka1393
prunec1395
tifta1400
varnishc1405
finea1425
tifflea1425
quaint1484
embuda1529
trick?1532
trick1545
dill1548
tricka1555
prink1573
smug1588
sponge1588
smudge1589
perk1590
primpc1590
sponge1592
tricksy1598
prime1616
sprug1622
briska1625
to sleek upa1625
trickify1678
prim1688
titivate1705
dandify1823
beflounce1824
befop1866
spry1878
lustrify1886
dude1899
doll1916
tart1938
youthify1945
pansy1946
spiv1947
dolly1958
zhuzh1970
1958 Listener 13 Nov. 768/2 You go home and dolly them [sc. the songs] up a bit.
1961 C. H. Douglas-Todd Pop. Whippet 37 At all events, ‘dollied up’ or not, a tea-chest makes a most effective indoor kennel.
1966 Economist 12 Nov. 709/3 Last minute painting and dollying up is done with the flag poles in position.
1968 R. V. Beste Repeat Instruct. xiii. 139 I didn't imagine you were the sort of spiv who would take a bribe however it was dollied up.
2. intransitive (colloquial) To move a film- or television-camera in or up towards the subject, or out away from it. Cf. dolly n.1 4h. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > broadcasting > television > production of television broadcast > produce television broadcast [verb (intransitive)] > camera movement
dolly1939
crane1957
track1959
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > filming > camera movements > [verb (intransitive)]
panoram1914
pan1928
truck1929
dolly1939
zoom1944
crane1957
track1959
whip-pan1960
1939 L. Jacobs Rise of Amer. Film xxii. 442 The traveling of sound is like panning or dollying of the camera.
1957 R. Longrigg Switchboard ii. 123 Dolly up a bit, Steve... Dolly up, you clot.
1961 Guardian 13 Oct. 5/2 As if this were the opening of a..television programme, you ‘dolly up’ to its owner.
1965 Listener 11 Feb. 238/3 The camera..remains static and does not ‘dolly in’ for a close-up, or alternatively ‘dolly out’.
3. Cricket (colloquial). transitive and intransitive. To toss or hit (the ball) up in a slow arc, offering: (a) an easy, playable delivery; (b) a simple catch. Of the ball: to present itself as a ‘dolly’ catch to a fieldsman. Also figurative. See dolly n.1 3b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > bowl [verb (intransitive)] > manner of bowling
to bowl short1851
to bowl with one's head1851
swerve1894
swing1900
dolly1963
no-ball1982
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > fielding > field [verb (transitive)] > movement of ball
dolly1963
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > bowl [verb (transitive)] > bowl in specific manner
twist1816
overthrow1833
to bowl over the wicket1851
overpitch1851
bump1869
york1882
to break a ball1884
flog1884
to bowl round (or formerly outside) the wicket1887
turn1898
flick1902
curl1904
spin1904
volley1909
flight1912
to give (a ball) air1920
tweak1935
move1938
overspin1940
swing1948
bounce1960
cut1960
seam1963
dolly1985
1963 A. Ross Australia 63 v. 115 He danced out to Titmus, was not quite at the pitch, and the ball, taking the outside edge, dollied up to Trueman at short extra.
1969 R. Illingworth Spinner's Wicket xii. 92 Brian..was waiting square in the legside field when the ball dollied to him.
1985 Listener 18 Apr. 29/1 Can they identify a picture of the Liverpool festival garden centre? Silence. Chairman Ray Alan dollies up an underarm ‘scouse house’ as an extra clue, but still there is total bafflement.
Derivatives
ˈdollied adj.
ΚΠ
1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 27 Aug. 11/1 This ‘dollying’ process is effected by a hammer, which..is made to strike the already roughly joined link till the two ends are so welded together that the joining is scarcely noticeable. All hand-wrought chain above three-eighths of an inch in diameter is known as ‘dollied’.
ˈdollying n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > washing > washing clothes and textile articles > [noun] > washing with a stirring appliance
maidening1839
dollying1848
1848 E. C. Gaskell Mary Barton II. x. 138 He had been engaged in ‘dollying’ and a few other mischievous feats in the washing line.
1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 27 Aug. 11/1 This ‘dollying’ process is effected by a hammer.
ˈdollier n.
ΚΠ
1882 Notes & Queries 28 Oct. 349/2 The soiled clothes are immersed in water in the dolly tub..then the dolly is plunged into the mass [of clothes] and worked by the dollier by both arms.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.11612
n.21860
adj.1853v.1831- caricatured
- caricaturely
- caricaturer
- caricatures
- caricaturing
- caricaturish
- caricaturist
- caricaturists
- carices
- cellon
- cellophane
- cellophane bag
- cellophane film
- cellophane noodle
- cellophane wrap
- cellophaned
- cellophanes
- cellos
- cellose
- cellotriose
- cellphone
- cellphones
- cells
- cells of deiters
- cellspecific