nelly

See also: Nelly

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /nɛli/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛli

Etymology 1

Shortened from Nelly Duff, for puff, i.e. breath of life.

Noun

nelly (plural nellies)

1. (Cockney rhyming slang) A person's life.

Usage notes

• Used principally in the phrase not on your nelly.

Etymology 2

From the woman's name Nelly.

Noun

nelly (plural nellies)

1. (derogatory, slang) An effeminate homosexual man.
2. (British, slang) A silly person.
3. A giant petrel, Macronectes giganteus and Macronectes halli.

Hyponyms

• (petrel): Antarctic giant petrel, northern giant petrel, southern giant fulmar, southern giant petrel

Derived terms

• high nelly
• high-nelly
• nervous-nelly
• nervous nelly
• nice-nelly
• wet nelly

 

Translations

petrel

• German: Riesensturmvogel

Adjective

nelly (comparative nellier, superlative nelliest)

1. (slang) Unmanly; effeminate.
   • 1979 April 21, Greg Jackson, “He Looks Like Tarzan But He Talks Like Jane”, in Gay Community News, page 17:

     From Christopher Street to Castro Street, these men are peddling the same message. I'm butch, a macho man. Well, it ain't necessarily so. In fact, as a general rule of thumb, the butcher the get-up, the nellier the wearer.

   • 2012, Lee Lynch, The Raid:

     Some of the nelliest boys unable to get or keep a job, some of the toughest girls breaking their bodies trying to do men's work.