/ˈsæli/
OriginFrom Middle English saly, from Old English saliġ, sealh (“willow”). More at sallow.
- A willow.
- Any tree that resembles a willow.
- An object made from the wood of a willow.
- A sortie of troops from a besieged place against an enemy.
“The rest of his horsemen the Duke sent to his campe, bicause they heard a great noise there, and doubted the enimies sally, and indeede they had issued foorth thrise, but were alwaies repulsed, especi”
“The besieged made another Sally, and killed several of the Enemy at Penyburn-Hill, but were forced to Retreat, being pressed by the Enemies Horse, who charged us on all sides.”
- A sudden rushing forth.
“Flocks of these birds stir up flying insects, which can then be picked off in quick sallies.”
- figurativelyA witty statement or quip, usually at the expense of one's interlocutor.
“Till then she had never formed an idea of one so gifted and so charming. She listened with astonishment to her companion's gay sallies, and answers, as piquant as they were ready.”
“Bull snuffed; he never paid any attention to her sallies but he heard them.”
“The stakes are low and the story beats are incidental amid the rush of largely mild visual gags and verbal sallies like “Blood Island! So called because it’s the exact shape of some blood!””
- An excursion or side trip.
“Everyone shall know a country better that makes often sallies into it, and traverses it up and down, than he that […] goes still round in the same track.”
- A tufted woollen part of a bellrope, used to provide grip when ringing a bell.
- New-Zealand, slangA member of the Salvation Army.
- A kind of stonefly.
- A wren.
- Canada, US, slangThe crystalline or powdered form of MDA.
- Canada, US, alt-of, slangAlternative letter-case form of sally: the crystalline or powdered form of MDA.
- intransitiveTo make a sudden attack (e.g. on an enemy from a defended position).
“The troops sallied in desperation.”
“A feeding strategy of some birds is to sally out from a perch to snatch an insect and then returning to the same or a different perch.”
- intransitiveTo set out on an excursion; venture; depart (often followed by "forth").
“So I tucked my violin under my arm, and sallied out after the old budgy ragman, determined to ease him of his load at the very first lonesome corner I could track him to.”
“Adverse comment begins with uncomplimentary observations on the somewhat harder seats, then reaches a crescendo when it is discovered that the perverse and unhurried train is actually going to wait fo”
“Along the Manchurian frontier was a 160km strip of land the US pilots dubbed 'MiG Alley'. Beyond it lay the North Korean, Chinese and Russian squadrons. From those airbases, MiGs sallied forth to atta”
- intransitiveTo venture off the beaten path.
- A diminutive of the female given name Sarah, also used as a formal given name.
“She submitted―for what alternative did she have?―to being Sally in this family, but she always signed herself, Sarah.”
“Maybe her first name was Sally, but David thought he would have remembered a name like that; there were so few Sallys these days. Now the world belonged to Ambers, Ashleys, and Tiffanys.”
- British, slangA nickname for the Salvation Army.
Formssallies(plural) · salley(alternative, obsolete) · sallies(present, singular, third-person) · sallying(participle, present) · sallied(participle, past) · sallied(past) · Sallies(plural) · Sallys(nonstandard, plural) · Sallie(alternative)