dolly
UK/ˈdɒli/US/ˈdɑli/
dolly noun: a doll. Also the ellipsis of dolly shop.
Noun (1)
dolly (plural dollies)
- A doll.
- ‘He pushed one of my dolly’s eyes in,’ sobbed Dora, hugging her dolly as she replied.1867 July 1, S.T.C., “The Harleys of Chelsea Place”, in The Christian Treasury, page 344
- A roughly cylindrical wooden object used as a base when molding pie crust.
- A disc with downward legs and a vertical handle, used for agitating laundry.
- LAUNDRY.
1 Dolly tub and pegs
2 Mangle
3 Washing machine1840, R. White (Auctioneer), Sale at Woodhouse Place, near Mansfield. Catalogue of the valuable and useful household furniture [etc.], Third Day's Sale. Wednesday, November 4th, 1840 - In its most common form, the dolly was a four- or five-legged stool attached to an upright handle about three feet long with a crossbar handle at the top.1986, Patricia Malcolmson, English Laundresses: A Social History, 1850-1930, page 30
- Synonyms:
- posser
- LAUNDRY.
- A device turned on a vertical axis by a handle or a winch, giving a circular motion to ore being washed.
- The dolly tub or rinsing bucket, fig. 630., has an upright shaft which bears the vane or dolly a b, turned by the winch handle.1840, Andrew Ure, A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, page 751
- A tool with an indented head for shaping the head of a rivet.
- A, is the steam or air cylinder for forcing the dolly B, hard against the rivet head while rivetting: when used for making rivets the dolly B, is unshipped, and the rivet heading apparatus substituted.1864, William Newton, “To Andrew Shanks, of Robert-street, Adelphi, for an improved rivetting machine”, in Newton's London Journal of Arts, page 279
- In pile driving, a block interposed between the head of the pile and the ram of the driver.
- A small truck with a single wide roller used for moving heavy beams, columns, etc., in bridge building.
- Synonym of hand truck (an L-shaped box-moving handcart with handles at one end).
- Synonyms:
- hand truck
- A moving dolly; a small, flat, rectangular platform on wheels, made to be slipped under a piece of furniture or other load.
- Synonyms:
- moving dolly
- An unpowered vehicle (trailer) designed for connection to a tractor unit, truck or prime mover vehicle, with strong traction power.
- A compact, narrow-gauge locomotive used for moving construction trains, switching, etc.
- A specialized piece of film equipment resembling a little cart on which a camera is mounted.
Show 5 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
- A young woman, especially one who is frivolous or vapid.
- But really you get your money from selling things — that's your line, and your Dad's isn't it? Using sexy dollies to con money out of people who've had to work for it. Well my daughter's not just a sugar-plum fairy to titillate men's fantasies, you know.1978, John McGrath, Yobbo nowt, page 39
- This glorious collection should be passed around clubland as a textbook study in making a seamless transition from being a disco dolly to a serious pop vocalist.1996, Billboard, number 45, page 24
- A fashionable young woman, one who follows the latest music or clothing fashions.
- Spotlight on the other hand is remarkable for prices and skirt lengths to suit the teenyboppers[…] Appeal: to a lunchtime horde of date-going dollies who cannot really afford another dress.1969 April 8, Prudence Glynn, “246 yards of fashion”, in The Times, page 6
- A ball hit by a batsman such that it goes gently to a fielder for a simple catch.
- A marker placed on the winning number by the dealer at roulette.
- An old gambling device, found in dolly shops, with the figure of an old man or "dolly", and a spiral hole down which a dropped marble would proceed to one of a set of numbered holes.
Verb
dolly (third-person singular simple present dollies, present participle dollying, simple past and past participle dollied)
- To hit a dolly.
- To move (an object) using a dolly.
- To move a camera (usually toward or away from its subject) using a dolly.
- To wash (laundry) in a tub using the stirring device called a dolly.
- To beat (red-hot metal) with a hammer.
- To crush ore with a dolly.
- To make somebody or something look attractive.
- Referring to the "hero of the day," No. 92220, Mr. Hanks acceded that she was not of the Great Western breed, but they had done their best to make up for that by "dollying her up in good old Western colours and conferring upon her the finest honour we can—the halo or crown of Swindon, the copper...1960 May, “Evening Star”, in Railway Magazine, page 307, referring to a new steam locomotive, the last built for British Railways
Adjective
dolly (comparative more dolly, superlative most dolly)
- Pretty; attractive.
- Divine. Sitting, sipping a tiny drinkette, vadaïng the great butch omis and dolly little palones trolling by, or disporting yourself on the sable plage getting your lallies all bronzed - your riah getting bleached by the soleil.1967, Kenneth Horne, Bona Bijou Tourettes (Round the Horne), season 3, episode 12
- She minces past the brandy latch / to vada dolly dish for trade, silly / with oomph and taste to park.2015 October 12, Adam Lowe, “Poem of the week: Vada That”, in The Guardian
- Left-handed (also dolly-handed, dolly-pawed, dolly-posh).
Noun (2)
dolly (plural dollies)
Proper noun capitalized: Dolly
Dolly (plural Dollys)
- A diminutive of the female given names Dorothy, Dolores, and Doris.
- Her name is Dorothy, though everyone has always called her Dolly. I do not know why, for there is nothing doll-like about her. She is a large, vigorous woman with the broad face and heavy hair of a tinker's wife.1989, John Banville, The Book of Evidence, page 41
Noun (3) capitalized: Dolly
Dolly (plural Dollies)
- Ellipsis of Dolly Parton.
- Ellipsis of Dolly Varden trout.
- Dolly Varden is the staple catch. To a point that, after two days, we find ourselves feeling guilty trying to shake them free from our fly or giving plenty of slack in the hope that another Dolly finds early freedom. […] Often the biggest challenge of hooking a big trout is avoiding Dollies.2017 November–December, Dean Oelschig, “Kamchatka: 61 Hours from Jo'burg”, in The Mission: The Cult of Fly Fishing, number 6, pages 54–55
Also used as
dolly is also the ellipsis of dolly shop.
dolly meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
dolly in Hindi
- डॉली, डौली
dolly in Marathi
- डॉली, डॉलीला, डॉलीकडे
dolly in Urdu
- ڈولی
dolly in Bengali
- ডলি, ডলিকে
More languagesFewer languages
- dolly in Telugu
- డాలీ, డాలీకి
- dolly in Malayalam
- ഡോളി, ഡോളിയിലേക്ക്
- dolly in Kannada
- ಡಾಲಿ, ಡೊಲ್ಲಿ, ಡೋಲಿ
- dolly in Punjabi
- ਡੌਲੀ, ਡੋਲੀ
- dolly in Gujarati
- ડૉલી, ડોલ્લી, ડોલી
- dolly in Odia
- ଡଲି, ଡୋଲି, ଡଲିଙ୍କୁ
- dolly in Nepali
- डली, डोली, डोल्लीलाई
Examples of dolly in a sentence
- If the ball hits the splice, it is likely to dolly up for an easy catch.
- My little brother is a doll mutilator, so I make sure to lock my bedroom door to keep my dollies safe.
- I've seen my share, dollies, but this old omiepalone was shaken to the core.
Synonyms of dolly
- posser
- hand truck
- moving dolly
Forms of dolly
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | dollies |
| alternative form | dollie |
| alternative form | dally |
| plural | Dollies |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | dollies |
| present participle | dollying |
| past participle | dollied |
| past | dollied |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more dolly |
| superlative | most dolly |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Dollys |
Origin of dolly
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).
Words formed from dolly
Phrases with dolly
- dolly birds
- dolly grips
- dolly knots
- dolly shops
- dolly shots
- dolly zooms
- Dolly Parton
- Dolly Varden
- Dolly Partons
- Dolly Vardens
- Dolly Daydream
- dolly mixtures
6 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with dolly
Questions about dolly
- What does dolly mean?
- Dolly means a doll.
- What is dolly in Hindi?
- Dolly in Hindi is डॉली, डौली. See Dolly meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is dolly?
- Dolly can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce dolly?
- Dolly is pronounced /ˈdɑli/ (US).
- What is the plural of dolly?
- The plural of dolly is dollies.
Words near dolly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dolly (page history and authors); Dolly (page history and authors); dolly (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dolly (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dolly (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dolly (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dolly (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dolly (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dolly (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dolly (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dolly (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dolly (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); dolly (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-dolly.ogg.
Cite this entry: “dolly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dolly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.