/ˈsɪl.i/
OriginFrom Middle English seely, sēlī, from Old English sǣliġ, ġesǣliġ (“lucky, fortunate”), from Proto-West Germanic *sālīg, from *sāli; equivalent to seel (“happiness, bliss”) + -y. Doublet of Seelie.
The semantic evolution is “lucky” to “innocent” to “naive” to “foolish”. Compare the similar evolution of daft (originally meaning “accommodating”), and almost the reverse with nice (originally meaning “ignorant”).
- Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.
“They were laughing at a silly joke.”
“silly grin”
“This is the silliest stuffe, that euer I heard.”
- Absurdly large.
“He cannot achieve celebrity by covering himself with diamonds... or by giving a silly price for a hack.”
- Scotland, obsoleteGood; pious.
“The sylyman lay and herde, / And hys wyf answerd.”
“The King of Spaine is counted very ſtrong, and the Pope is counted very ſtrong, because they haue a ſtrong hand to perſecute the ſilly ones of leſus Chriſt.”
- Scotland, obsoleteHoly.
“... thrie Saturdayes befor Lambas and thrie efter called the six silie Saturdayes.”
- Northern-England, Scotland, rarePitiful, inspiring compassion, particularly
“The fire raging upon the silly Carcase.”
“Silly... in the same sense as E. poor is often used, denoting a state which excites compassion.”
- Northern-England, Scotland, literary, rareInnocent; suffering undeservedly, especially as an epithet of lambs and sheep.
“There is no best in þe word, I wene... / That suffuris halfe so myche tene / As doth þe sylly wat.”
“In the silly lambis skin He crap als far as he micht win.”
- Northern-England, Scotland, literary, rareHelpless, defenseless.
“scared silly”
“Wherfore Christe must soo moche the more instantelye be sought vpon, that he may vouchsafe to defende vs sylly wretches.”
“Ah Shepheard, pity my diſtreſſed plight, / (If as thou ſeem’ſt, thou art ſo meane a man) / And ſeeke not to inrich thy followers, / By lawleſſe rapine from a ſilly maide, […]”
- Northern-England, Scotland, rareInsignificant, worthless, (chiefly Scotland) especially with regard to land quality.
“Ane sillie scheill vnder ane erdfast stane”
“[…]A pettigree / Of threescore and two yeares a sillie time, / To make prescription for a kingdomes worth.”
“It is naturally very poor, ‘silly’ land.”
- Northern-England, Scotland, rareWeak, frail; flimsy (use concerning people and animals is now obsolete).
“Here we see that a smal sillie Bird knoweth how to match with so great a Beast.”
“[Christ] leaueth neither Children nor kinsfolke behind him to vphold his sillie kingdome.”
“That'll never grow. It's ower silly.”
- Northern-England, Scotland, rareSickly; feeble; infirm.
“To doe the thing we can / To please... / This silly sickly man.”
“Is there ony thing you would particularly fancy, as your health seems but silly?”
- rareRustic, homely.
“Dauid had no more but a sylie slynge, and a few stones.”
- obsolete, rareLowly, of humble station.
“The silly herdman all astonnied standes.”
“So luvaris lair no leid suld lak,
A lord to lufe a silly lass.”
- obsoleteRustic, uneducated, unlearned.
“From Hell (of which the silly people of the Country think the top of this hill to be the mouth).”
- Thoughtless, lacking judgment.
“silly mistake”
“Wee sillie soules, take the matter too too heauily.”
“‘Heaven help this silly fellow,’ murmured the perplexed locksmith.”
- Scotlandmentally delayed or feeble.
“Fow ȝellow ȝellow wes hir heid bot scho of lufe wes sillie.”
“Davie's no just like other folk... but he's no sae silly as folk tak him for.”
- Stupefied, senseless; stunned or dazed.
“You say you were knocked silly—was that so?”
“Drinking myself silly...”
“Well, Judy, now that you've scared me silly, what's so important?”
- Very close to the batsman, facing the bowler; closer than short.
“Carpenter now placed himself at silly-point for Grundy, who was playing very forward.”
- colloquial, regionalSillily: in a silly manner.
“If you did but see how silly a Man fumbles for an Excuse, when he's a little asham'd of being in Love.”
- colloquialA silly person.
“While they, poor sillies, bid good night,
O' love an' bogles eerie.”
“"Oh, Bill. I can't - Oh, my dear, I've been hoping so much.... Oh, Bill..." said Josella. I had forgotten all about Susan until a voice came from above. "You are getting wet, you silly. Why don't you ”
- endearingA term of address.
“‘Come on, silly,’ said Nannie.”
- colloquialA mistake.
Formssillier(comparative) · silliest(superlative) · sely(alternative) · seely(alternative) · sillies(plural)