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Silly

//ˈsɪl.i// adj, adv, noun, slang

Definitions

Adjective

1
Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.
"They were laughing at a silly joke."
2
Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.; Absurdly large.
"He cannot achieve celebrity by covering himself with diamonds... or by giving a silly price for a hack."
3
Blessed; Good; pious. Scotland, obsolete
"The sylyman lay and herde, / And hys wyf answerd."
4
Blessed; Holy. Scotland, obsolete
"... thrie Saturdayes befor Lambas and thrie efter called the six silie Saturdayes."
5
Pitiful, inspiring compassion, particularly Northern-England, Scotland, rare
"The fire raging upon the silly Carcase."

Show 12 more definitions

6
Pitiful, inspiring compassion; Innocent; suffering undeservedly, especially as an epithet of lambs and sheep. Northern-England, Scotland, literary, rare
"There is no best in þe word, I wene... / That suffuris halfe so myche tene / As doth þe sylly wat."
7
Pitiful, inspiring compassion; Helpless, defenseless. Northern-England, Scotland, literary, rare
"scared silly"
8
Pitiful, inspiring compassion; Insignificant, worthless, (chiefly Scotland) especially with regard to land quality. Northern-England, Scotland, rare
"Ane sillie scheill vnder ane erdfast stane"
9
Pitiful, inspiring compassion; Weak, frail; flimsy (use concerning people and animals is now obsolete). Northern-England, Scotland, rare
"Here we see that a smal sillie Bird knoweth how to match with so great a Beast."
10
Pitiful, inspiring compassion; Sickly; feeble; infirm. Northern-England, Scotland, rare
"To doe the thing we can / To please... / This silly sickly man."
11
Simple, plain; Rustic, homely. rare
"Dauid had no more but a sylie slynge, and a few stones."
12
Simple, plain; Lowly, of humble station. obsolete, rare
"The silly herdman all astonnied standes."
13
Mentally simple, foolish; Rustic, uneducated, unlearned. obsolete
"From Hell (of which the silly people of the Country think the top of this hill to be the mouth)."
14
Mentally simple, foolish; Thoughtless, lacking judgment.
"silly mistake"
15
Mentally simple, foolish; mentally delayed or feeble. Scotland
"Fow ȝellow ȝellow wes hir heid bot scho of lufe wes sillie."
16
Mentally simple, foolish; Stupefied, senseless; stunned or dazed.
"You say you were knocked silly—was that so?"
17
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."

Adjective

1
dazed from or as if from repeated blows wordnet
2
inspiring scornful pity wordnet
3
lacking seriousness; given to frivolity wordnet
4
ludicrous, foolish wordnet

Adverb

1
Sillily: in a silly manner. colloquial, regional
"If you did but see how silly a Man fumbles for an Excuse, when he's a little asham'd of being in Love."

Noun

1
A silly person. colloquial
"While they, poor sillies, bid good night, O' love an' bogles eerie."
2
a word used for misbehaving children wordnet
3
A term of address. endearing
"‘Come on, silly,’ said Nannie."
4
A mistake. colloquial

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

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