Word.ws English Dictionary

willies

willies is the plural of willy.

Meaning of willy

Noun (1)

willy (plural willies)

  1. (UK, dialectal) A willow basket.
  2. (UK, dialectal) A fish basket.

Noun (2)

willy (plural willies)

  1. (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, UK, childish) The penis.
    • Little Johnny got his willy stuck in his zipper.
    Synonyms:
    peter
  2. (UK, childish, dialectal) A term of abuse.
    • You're a big fat willy! So shut up!!

Noun (3)

willy (plural willies)

  1. (UK, dialectal) A person who is manipulated into serving as a useful agent without knowing it.

See all 9 meanings of willy

Noun

the willies pl (plural only)

  1. (colloquial, plural, plural-only) A feeling of nervousness or fear.
    • Staying in the haunted house gave me the willies.
    • Not that I'm given to that kind of thing really.... It was those damned bandages over my eyes, the medley of voices that had shouted back at me down the corridor. But I certainly was getting the willies - and once you get 'em, they grow.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 15

Proper noun capitalized: Willies

Willies

  1. (plural) plural of Willy

Synonyms of willies

Origin of willies

The meaning "spell of nervousness", recorded since 1896, stems perhaps from the woollies, a dialectal term for "nervous uneasiness", probably in reference to the physical itchiness of wool garments. Or it might be a play on words relating to the ballet Giselle, performed in Paris in 1846, where the stage is flooded by the Wilis, who are the spooky, ephemeral, beautiful but evil ghosts of virgins who died before their wedding day. Watching the Wilis in Giselle is meant to give you the willies. Most English speakers pronounce 'Wilis' as 'willies'.

Phrases with willies

Questions about willies

What does willies mean?
Willies means a feeling of nervousness or fear.
What is willies the plural of?
Willies is the plural of willy.
What part of speech is willies?
Willies can be a noun or a proper noun.

Words near willies in the dictionary

  1. willie-warmer
  2. willie-waught
  3. willied
  4. willier
  5. williers
  6. willies
  7. williest
  8. Williford
  9. Willifords
  10. Willig
  11. Willigobung

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: willies (page history and authors); Willies (page history and authors); willy (page history and authors). 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.

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Cite this entry: “willies.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/willies. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.