jelly

English

Alternative forms

• gelly (obsolete)

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English jelyf, gelly, gelye, gelle, gelee, gele, from Old French gelee, from Old French geler (“to congeal”), from Latin 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 […]

10. (colloquial, US) Blood.

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 (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 (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 (informal adjective ending).

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.