telly

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English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Shortened form of tele(vision) +‎ -y.

Noun

telly (usually uncountable, plural tellys or tellies)

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland)

  1. (colloquial) Television.
    Not much on telly tonight, as usual!
    • 2007 August 24, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 2, Episode 1:
      You're from telly!
    • 2021 June 30, Tim Dunn, “How We Made... Secrets of the London Underground”, in Rail, number 934, page 48:
      [...] they were all in agreement: this stuff had to be on the telly.
  2. (colloquial) A television set.
    We've got a new flat-screen telly.
  3. (colloquial) Telegraph.
  4. (colloquial) Telephone.
  5. (colloquial) Teleport.
  6. (colloquial) Telecommunication.
Usage notes

The plural is not used in the US.

Alternative forms
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Shortened form of (ho)tel and/or (mo)tel +‎ -y.

Noun

telly (plural tellies)

  1. (US, Canada, chiefly MTE, slang) A hotel or motel.
    I'm staying at the telly this weekend.

Etymology 3

From tell +‎ -y, related to the writing advice show, don't tell.

Adjective

telly (comparative more telly, superlative most telly)

  1. (informal, chiefly of a literary work) Inclined to telling (by explicitly stating facts), instead of showing (by conveying an impression so that events are described in the narrative).
    Antonym: showy
    • 1999 November 21, sophie, “Squealer : first revision”, in alt.arts.poetry.comments‎ (Usenet):
      I think my problem with it is that it's
      a) a little "telly" not "showy" in comparison to the rest […]
    • 2003 September 19, Patrick Null, “Failed Sept Challenge? (1409 words)”, in alt.fiction.original‎ (Usenet):
      There's a way to make this more showy and less telly. It's like you're in a hurry to get on with the rest of the story.
    • 2009 May 18, @kimmcgowan, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 2024-07-18:
      story is too, too telly; need at least 3 showy scenes to improve showing:telling ratio
    • 2016 February 12, Kelly, “Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo”, in Diva Booknerd‎, archived from the original on 2024-07-18:
      Six of Crows is very telly and little showy. You are constantly getting info dumps and mini-flashbacks to the characters past.
    • 2019 May 26, Chautona Havig, “This Book Gives New Meaning to “The Romance of the Rails””, in Chautona.com‎, archived from the original on 2024-07-18:
      The only other objection I have—and again, it’s minor—is that the very last chapter feels very “telly” and rushed. I get why, but a smoother exit would have really made an otherwise wonderful book almost perfect.
    • 2022 October 10, Brian Collins, “Short Story Review: “Bite-Me-Not or, Fleur de Fleu” by Tanith Lee”, in Science Fiction & Fantasy Remembrance‎, archived from the original on 2024-07-18:
      Lee’s style of narration reads like an old-style fairy tale to an extent—it’s very telly, if that makes any sense. We get descriptions of character actions and we’re told about character motives as filtered through the third-person narrator, but we don’t actually get to read these characters’ thoughts.
    • 2024 July 1, pinkjamie, “Well...”, in BookishFirst‎, archived from the original on 2024-07-18:
      The ending felt rushed to me, and I wish it would have been more showy and less telly.

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