dolly
UK /ˈdɒli/ · US /ˈdɑli/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms dollies dollying dollied Dollys dollie dally
- noun (childish, colloquial) A doll.
- noun (cooking) A roughly cylindrical wooden object used as a base when molding pie crust.
- noun A disc with downward legs and a vertical handle, used for agitating laundry.
- noun A device turned on a vertical axis by a handle or a winch, giving a circular motion to ore being washed.
- noun A tool with an indented head for shaping the head of a rivet.
- noun In pile driving, a block interposed between the head of the pile and the ram of the driver.
- noun A small truck with a single wide roller used for moving heavy beams, columns, etc., in bridge building.
- noun (sometimes proscribed) Synonym of hand truck (an L-shaped box-moving handcart with handles at one end).
- verb (transitive, cricket) To hit a dolly.
- verb (transitive) To move (an object) using a dolly.
- verb (intransitive) To move a camera (usually toward or away from its subject) using a dolly.
- verb (transitive) To wash (laundry) in a tub using the stirring device called a dolly.
- verb (transitive) To beat (red-hot metal) with a hammer.
- verb (transitive) To crush ore with a dolly.
- verb (relating to noun senses 11-12, and dolly bird; often with up) To make somebody or something look attractive.
- adjective (Polari) Pretty; attractive.
- adjective (Yorkshire, especially Sheffield) Left-handed (also dolly-handed, dolly-pawed, dolly-posh).
- noun (India) An offering of fruit or flowers.
- proper noun A diminutive of the female given names Dorothy, Dolores, and Doris.
Synonyms
Etymology
From doll + -y, from the given name Dorothy, originally applied either to a woman or female pet or to a children's toy, and expanded to refer to various types of contrivances or devices. The Online Etymology Dictionary, while considering the reason for applying it to such devices unobvious, compares how the names jack, jenny and jimmy are also applied to devices.
Disputed. Most scholars derive the term from doll + -y, as Etymology 1, above. Linguist Ian Hancock, however, suggests derivation from Italian dolce (“sweet”).
From Hindi डाली (ḍālī).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A contrivance, turning on a vertical axis by a handle or winch, and giving a circular motion to the ore to be washed; a stirrer.
- noun A tool with an indented head for shaping the head of a rivet.
- noun A child's mane for a doll. Dolly shop, a shop where rags, old junk, etc., are bought and sold; usually, in fact, an unlicensed pawnbroker's shop, formerly distinguished by the sign of a black doll. [England]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “dolly”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details