gully

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See also: Gully

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: gŭl'ē, IPA(key): /ˈɡʌli/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌli

Etymology 1

(sense 1) Gully

Origin uncertain. Possibly from a variant of Middle English golet (“esophagus, gullet”), from Old French goulet, from Latin gula (“throat”). Shift in meaning in Middle English to "water channel, ravine" may have been influenced by Middle English gylle, gille, galle (“deep narrow valley, ravine”); see gill.

Alternatively, from a diminutive of dialectal gull (“fissue, chasm”) +‎ -y (diminutive suffix). See gull, gullick.

Noun

gully (plural gullies)

  2. A trench, ravine or narrow channel which was worn by water flow, especially on a hillside.
    Synonym: gill
  3. A small valley.
  4. (UK) A drop kerb.
  5. A road drain.
    • 2021 June 16, “Network News: Drainage work at Guiseley station”, in RAIL, number 933, page 19:
      A new drainage run and rainwater gullies are to be installed between the station and Oxford Road, with completion planned for December 1.
  6. (cricket) A fielding position on the off side about 30 degrees behind square, between the slips and point; a fielder in such a position
    Synonym: box
  7. (UK) A grooved iron rail or tram plate.
Alternative forms
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
  • → French: gollé
  • → German: Gully
Translations

Verb

gully (third-person singular simple present gullies, present participle gullying, simple past and past participle gullied)

  1. (obsolete) To flow noisily.
  2. (transitive) To wear away into a gully or gullies.
References
  1. ^ Samuel Johnson (1755 April 15) “GULLY”, in A Dictionary of the English Language: , volumes I (A–K), London: W Strahan, for J and P Knapton;  , →OCLC.

Etymology 2

From Scots gully, of unknown origin.

Noun

gully (plural gullies)

  1. (Scotland, northern UK) A large knife.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Hindustani گَلی (galī) / गली (galī); spelling probably influenced by other uses of this word.

Alternative forms

Noun

gully (plural gullies)

  1. (chiefly South Asia) An alleyway or side street.
    • 2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 3:
      Older boys play gali cricket, while young girls watch them shyly from a distance.

Further reading

See also

Scots

Etymology

Unknown.

Noun

gully (plural gullies)

  1. large knife
    God than he lewch and owre the dyk lap, / And owt of his scheith his gully owtgatt. (The Bannatyne Manuscript)
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