silly

English Online Dictionary. What means silly‎? What does silly mean?

English

Etymology

From 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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪ.li/
• Rhymes: -ɪli
• Hyphenation: sil‧ly
• Homophones: Silly, Scilly

Adjective

silly (comparative sillier, superlative silliest)

1. Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.
   1. (of numbers, particularly prices) Absurdly large.
      • 1875 June 26, Saturday Review, 815/2:

        He cannot achieve celebrity by covering himself with diamonds... or by giving a silly price for a hack.

2. (chiefly Scotland, obsolete) Blessed, particularly:
   1. Good; pious.
      • a. 1450, Seven Sages, line 1361:

        The sylyman lay and herde, / And hys wyf answerd.
   2. Holy.
      • 1650 in 1885, W. Cramond, Church of Rathven, 21:

        ... thrie Saturdayes befor Lambas and thrie efter called the six silie Saturdayes.

3. (now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion, particularly:
   • 1556 in 1880, William Henry Turner, Selections from the Records of the City of Oxford... 1509–83, 246:

     The fire raging upon the silly Carcase.
   1. (now literary) Innocent; suffering undeservedly, especially as an epithet of lambs and sheep.
      • a. 1475, in 1925, Rossell Hope Robbins, Secular Lyrics of the 14th & 15th Centuries, 109:

        There is no best in þe word, I wene... / That suffuris halfe so myche tene / As doth þe sylly wat.
   2. (now literary) Helpless, defenseless.

      scared silly
   3. Insignificant, worthless, (chiefly Scotland) especially with regard to land quality.
   4. Weak, frail; flimsy (use concerning people and animals is now obsolete).
   5. Sickly; feeble; infirm.
4. (now rustic UK, rare) Simple, plain, particularly:
   1. Rustic, homely.
   2. (obsolete) Lowly, of humble station.
      • a. 1547, the Earl of Surrey translating Publius Virgilius Maro, Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aeneis, Book II:

        The silly herdman all astonnied standes.
5. Mentally simple, foolish, particularly:
   1. (obsolete) Rustic, uneducated, unlearned.
   2. Thoughtless, lacking judgment.
      • 1576, Abraham Fleming translating Sulpicius, A Panoplie of Epistles, 24:

        Wee sillie soules, take the matter too too heauily.
   3. (Scotland) Mentally retarded.
   4. Stupefied, senseless; stunned or dazed.
      • 1829 January 17, Lancaster Gazette:

        You say you were knocked silly—was that so?
6. (cricket, of a fielding position) Very close to the batsman, facing the bowler; closer than short.
   • 1862 July 4, Notts. Guardian:

     Carpenter now placed himself at silly-point for Grundy, who was playing very forward.

7. (informal, of visual art) Pornographic. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

Usage notes

• Silly is usually taken to imply a less serious degree of foolishness, mental impairment, or hilarity than its synonyms.
• The sense meaning stupefied is usually restricted to times when silly is used as a verb complement, denoting that the action is done so severely or repetitively that it leaves one senseless.

Alternative forms

• sely, seely

Synonyms

• (playful): charming
• Also see Thesaurus:foolish

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “playful”): pious

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

silly (comparative sillier, superlative silliest)

1. (now regional or colloquial) Sillily: in a silly manner.

Noun

silly (plural sillies)

1. (colloquial) A silly person.
   • 1807 May, Scots Magazine, 366/1:

     While they, poor sillies, bid good night,
     O' love an' bogles eerie.

2. (endearing, gently derogatory) A term of address.
   • 1918 September, St. Nicholas, 972/2:

     ‘Come on, silly,’ said Nannie.

3. (colloquial) A mistake.

Translations

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, ""silly, adj., n., and adv.", 2013.

Anagrams

• silyl, slily, yills