jelly

English

Alternative forms

• gelly (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛl.i/
• Rhymes: -ɛli

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology 1

Borrowing from Old French gelée, from geler (“to congeal”), from Latin gelō, gelāre.

Noun

jelly (countable and uncountable, plural jellies)

1. (New Zealand, Australia, Britain) A dessert made by boiling gelatine, sugar and some flavouring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set, known as "jello" in North America.
2. (Canada, US) A clear or translucent fruit preserve, made from fruit juice and set using either naturally occurring, or added, pectin. Known as "jam" in Commonwealth English.
   • 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. A similar dish made with meat.
4. Any substance or object having the consistency of jelly.

   calf's-foot jelly

   • 1901, H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon, Chapter 24,^[1]

     […] some of the profounder scholars are altogether too great for locomotion, and are carried from place to place in a sort of sedan tub, wabbling jellies of knowledge that enlist my respectful astonishment.

5. (zoology) A jellyfish.
   • 2014, Theo Tait, ‘Water-Borne Zombies’, London Review of Books, vol. 36 no. 5:

     Species of the phylum Cnidaria – the classic jelly – have existed in something close to their current form for at least 565 million years; Ctenophora, the comb jellies, are not much younger.

6. (slang, now rare) A pretty girl; a girlfriend.
   • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, page 25:

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

7. (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.

8. (colloquial) Clipping of gelignite.
9. (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
• (fruit preserve): jam, marmalade

Derived terms

Terms derived from jelly

• comb jelly
• jellification
• jellify

• jelly baby
• jelly bean
• jelly bracelet

• jellyfish
• jellylike
• royal jelly

Related terms

• gel
• gelatin

Translations

dessert

• Arabic: هُلَام‎‎ m (hulām)
• Catalan: gelatina f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 啫喱 (ze¹ lei^1-2)

  Mandarin: 果凍 (zh), 果冻 (zh) (guǒdòng), 果子凍 (zh), 果子凍 (zh) (guǒzidòng)

• Czech: želé (cs) n
• Erzya: терьге (terʹge)
• Esperanto: ĵeleo
• Finnish: hyytelö (fi)
• French: gelée (fr) f
• German: Gelee (de) n, Sulz (de), Wackelpudding m, Wackelpeter (de) m
• Greek: ζελές (el) m (zelés), ζελέ (el) n (zelé)
• Hungarian: zselé (hu)
• Ido: jeleo (io)
• Italian: gelatina (it) f
• Japanese: ゼリー (ja) (zerī)

• Korean: 젤리 (jelli)
• Latvian: želeja f
• Lithuanian: želė (lt) f, drebučiai pl
• Macedonian: желе n (źelé)
• Persian: ژله‎‎ (fa) (žele)
• Portuguese: gelatina (pt)
• Romanian: jeleu (ro) n
• Russian: желе́ (ru) n (želé)
• Slovak: želé n
• Spanish: gelatina (es) f, jalea (es) f
• Swedish: gelé (sv)
• Tagalog: haleya
• Thai: วุ้น (th) (wún)
• Turkish: jöle (tr)
• Yup'ik: siliyaq

sweet gelatinous substance derived from fruit juices and pectin

• Czech: želé (cs) n
• French: gelée (fr) f
• German: Gelee (de) n
• Greek: ζελατίνη (el) f (zelatíni)
• Portuguese: geleia (pt) f

• Russian: желе́ (ru) n (želé)
• Spanish: jalea (es) m
• Tagalog: haleya
• Thai: วุ้น (th) (wún)
• Turkish: pelte (tr)

jam

• Catalan: melmelada f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 果醬 (zh), 果酱 (zh) (guǒjiàng)

• Czech: džem (cs) m, marmeláda (cs) f
• Dutch: gelei (nl)
• Finnish: hillo (fi)
• French: confiture (fr) f
• German: Marmelade (de) f, Gelee (de) n
• Greek: μαρμελάδα (el) f (marmeláda), ζελέ (el) n (zelé) (π.χ. κυδώνι)
• Italian: marmellata (it) f

• Japanese: ジャム (ja) (jamu)
• Latin: cylon
• Portuguese: doce (pt) m, chimia (pt) f
• Romanian: marmeladă (ro) f
• Russian: джем (ru) m (džem), мармела́д (ru) m (marmelád)
• Slovak: džem (sk) m, marmeláda
• Spanish: mermelada (es) f, confitura (es) f
• Swedish: sylt (sv) c, marmelad (sv) c
• Thai: แยม (th) (yɛɛm)
• Turkish: marmelat (tr)

sieved jam

• Dutch: gelei (nl)
• Finnish: marmeladi (fi)
• German: Gelee (de) n

• Italian: gelatina (it) f
• Turkish: jöle (tr)

meat dish

• Finnish: aladobi (fi)
• Greek: πηκτή (el) f (piktí)

• Persian: هلام‎‎ (holâm)
• Portuguese: mocotó (pt) m

a jellyfish

• Maori: tepetepe, petipeti, kakaru moana, kūreperepe moana, kūreperepe-ā-tai, pūkarukaru, maremare tai

large backside

• French: gros cul

• Russian: жо́па (ru) f (žópa)

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.

Translations

to wiggle like jelly

• Finnish: tytistä

to make jelly

• Finnish: hyytelöidä

Etymology 2

Clipping of jealous +‎ -y (“(casual)”).

Adjective

jelly (comparative more jelly, superlative most jelly)

1. (slang) Jealous.
   • 2011 February 28, Abby Normal [username], “Re: OT VERY FUNNY: MY NEW HERO CHARLIE SHEEN”, in rec.games.pinball, Usenet‎^[2]:

     If the guy wants to party and bang porn stars, and he's not hurting anyone who really cares?
     I think a lot of guys are just jelly! :-)

   • 2011, "Exchange smiles, not saliva", The Banner (Grand Blanc High School), Volume 47, Issue 2, December 2011, page 17:

     "I think other people make rude comments because they're jelly [jealous] bro," Schroer said. "We're just showing our love to other people."

   • 2012 January 10, pussykatt [username], “BLIND GOSSIP 01/09/12 **BLIND ITEM 2**”, in alt.gossip.celebrities, Usenet‎^[3]:

     Shame on all you haters out there! You’re all just jelly!

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:jelly.