jelly

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• gelly (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /ˈdʒɛl.i/
• Rhymes: -ɛli

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology

Old French gelee, from geler (“to congeal”), from Latin gelū.

Noun

jelly (countable and uncountable; plural jellies)

1. (New Zealand, Australian, UK) A dessert made by boiling gelatine, sugar and some flavouring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set
2. A clear or translucent fruit preserve, made from fruit juice and set using either naturally occurring, or added, pectin
   • 1945, Fannie Merritt Farmer and Wilma Lord Perkins revisor, The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Eighth edition:

     Perfect jelly is of appetizing flavor; beautifully colored and translucent; tender enough to cut easily with a spoon, yet firm enough to hold its shape when turned from the glass.

   • 1975, Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker, The Joy of Cooking, 5th revision:

     Jelly has great clarity. Two cooking processes are involved. First, the juice alone is extracted from the fruit. Only that portion thin and clear enough to drip through a cloth is cooked with sugar until sufficiently firm to hold its shape. It is never stiff and never gummy.

3. (zoology) Short for jellyfish.
4. (slang, now rare) A pretty girl; a girlfriend.
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, p. 25:

     ‘Gowan goes to Oxford a lot,’ the boy said. ‘He's got a jelly there.’

5. (US, slang) A large backside, especially a woman's.
   • 2001, Destiny's Child, “Bootylicious” (song)

     I shake my jelly at every chance / When I whip with my hips you slip into a trance

   • 2001, George Dell, Dance Unto the Lord, page 94:

     At that Sister Samantha seemed to shake her jelly so that she sank back into her chair.

6. (colloquial) Short for gelignite.
7. (colloquial) A jelly shoe.
   • 2006, David L. Marcus, What It Takes to Pull Me Through:

     Mary Alice gazed at a picture of herself wearing jellies and an oversized turquoise T-shirt that matched her eyes […]

Synonyms

• (dessert made by boiling gelatin): (US) jello, Jell-O

Derived terms

• comb jelly
• jellification
• jellify
• jelly baby
• jelly bean
• jelly bracelet
• jellyfish
• jellylike
• royal jelly

Translations

dessert

Arabic: هلام (ar) (hulām) m. Catalan: gelatina (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 果凍 (zh), 果冻 (zh) (guǒdòng), 果子凍 (zh), 果子凍 (zh) (guǒzidòng) Finnish: hyytelö (fi) French: gelée (fr) f. German: Gelee (de) n., Sulz (de) Greek: ζελές (el) m., ζελέ (el) n. Hungarian: zselé (hu) Italian: gelatina (it) f.

Japanese: ゼリー (ja) (zerī) Korean: 젤리 (ko) (jelli) Latvian: želeja (lv) f. Lithuanian: želė (lt) f., drebučiai (lt) pl. Macedonian: желе (mk) n. Persian: ژله (fa) (žele) Portuguese: gelatina (pt) Romanian: jeleu (ro) n. Russian: желе (ru) (želé) n. (indeclinable) Spanish: gelatina (es) f., jalea (es) f.

sweet gelatinous substance derived from fruit juices and pectin

Czech: želé (cs) n. French: gelée (fr) f. German: Gelee (de) n.

Russian: желе (ru) (žel'é) n. Spanish: jalea (es) m.

jam

Catalan: melmelada (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 果醬 (zh), 果酱 (zh) (guǒjiàng) Dutch: gelei (nl) Finnish: hillo (fi) French: confiture (fr) f. German: Marmelade (de) f., Gelle (de) n. Italian: marmellata (it) f.

Japanese: ジャム (ja) (jamu) Latin: cylon (la) Portuguese: geléia (pt) Romanian: marmeladă (ro) f. Russian: джем (ru) (džem) m., мармелад (ru) (marmelád) m. Spanish: mermelada (es) f., confitura (es) f. Swedish: sylt (sv), marmelad (sv)

sieved jam

Dutch: gelei (nl) Finnish: marmeladi (fi)

German: Gelee (de) n. Italian: gelatina (it) f.

large backside

French: gros cul Italian: culone (it) m.

Russian: жопа (ru) (žópa) f.

Verb

jelly (third-person singular simple present jellies, present participle jellying, simple past and past participle jellied)

1. To wiggle like jelly.
2. To make jelly.

Adjective

jelly (comparative more jelly, superlative most jelly)

1. (Internet slang) jealous