nelly

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See also: Nelly

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /nɛli/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛli

Etymology 1

Shortened from Nelly Duff, for puff, i.e. breath of life.

Noun

nelly (plural nellies)

  1. (Cockney rhyming slang) A person's life.
Usage notes

Etymology 2

From the woman's name Nelly.

Noun

nelly (plural nellies)

  1. (derogatory, slang) An effeminate homosexual man.
  2. (Britain, slang) A silly person.
  3. A giant petrel, Macronectes giganteus and Macronectes halli.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations

Adjective

nelly (comparative nellier, superlative nelliest)

  1. (slang) Unmanly; effeminate.
    • 1979 April 21, Greg Jackson, “He Looks Like Tarzan But He Talks Like Jane”, in Gay Community News, page 17:
      From Christopher Street to Castro Street, these men are peddling the same message. I'm butch, a macho man. Well, it ain't necessarily so. In fact, as a general rule of thumb, the butcher the get-up, the nellier the wearer.
    • 2012, Lee Lynch, The Raid:
      Some of the nelliest boys unable to get or keep a job, some of the toughest girls breaking their bodies trying to do men's work.

References

  1. ^ Reuben, David R. (1969), chapter 8, in Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were too afraid to ask, New York: David McKay Company, Inc., published 1970, →LCCN, Homosexuals have their own language?, page 146: “NELLY: effeminate homosexual”