welly
/ˈwɛli
/(also wellie) British informal
noun (plural wellies)
1 short for wellington.Now, over the years I have suffered a lot with cold feet at times so it's always been important to me to get the best, warmest types of wellies or waders available....
- Take it from me, when Geoff says sturdy shoes, he means wellies.
- It is a surprise to see town shoes instead of green wellies.
2 [mass noun] Power or vigour: I like big, fat voices with plenty of welly...
- Thierry Henry gets plenty of welly on the ensuing free-kick from about 35 yards out and PSV goalkeeper Edwin Zoetebier gets his palms stung before catching it on the second attempt.
- At the end he let his voice soar as he threw away his prepared speech and gave them some impromptu wellie.
- And you know what, he wasn't that bad, it's just in this day and age when they're all using rackets the size of the average double mattress, he ought to be giving it a bit more welly on a regular basis.
verb (wellies, wellying, wellied) [with object]
Hit or kick (something) hard: Francis wellied the ball upfield...
- No fancy bass drumming, just giving it some wellie.
- A really smart save from Hislop that time, low to his right from Ibrahimovic's 20-yard welly.
- She's giving it some welly at her daughter's 16 th Birthday in a club in town.
