cully

See also: Cully

English

Etymology

Origin uncertain. Short for cullion?

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌli/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌli

Noun

cully (plural cullies)

1. (now rare) A person who is easily tricked or imposed on; a dupe, a gullible person.
   • (Can we date this quote by Addison and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     I have learned that […] I am not the first cully whom she has passed upon for a countess.

   • 2012, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex, Penguin 2013, p. 158:

     One [attitude] was a fascination with street-walkers and courtesans as self-confident entrepreneurs, able to outwit their simple cullies.

2. (slang) A companion.
3. (historical, archaic) A male client of a prostitute; a john, a gonk.
   • 2006, Laura J. Rosenthal, Infamous Commerce: Prostitution in Eighteenth-Century British Literature and Culture, Cornell University Press, page 2.

     The assumption tends to be the opposite: Whores constantly seek sexual encounters to fulfill their burning desires and also sometimes manage to wheedle gold out of their cullies.

Verb

cully (third-person singular simple present cullies, present participle cullying, simple past and past participle cullied)

1. To trick, to impose on, to dupe.