wally

See also: Wally

English

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /wɒli/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒli

Noun

wally (plural wallies)

1. (British, slang) A fool.
   • 2014, Richard Newsome, The House of Puzzles, page 111:

     'Don't be such a wally,' Ruby said. 'Felicity is way smarter than you could ever hope to be.'

2. (colloquial, London and Essex) A large pickled gherkin or cucumber.
   • 2003, Charles Campion, The Rough Guide to London Restaurants, page 215:

     Mushy peas (£1.40) are ... mushy, and wallies (45p) – pickled gherkins to you – come sliced and prettily served in the shape of a flower.

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

wally (not comparable)

1. (Of eyes) unusually pale; misaligned, sideways-looking, affected by strabismus.
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XI, in Capricornia‎^[1], New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 179:

     […] one of his eyes was wally, a condition common among the natives of the land. (Here the first meaning is intended, as indicated later in the text:) […] turned his one black eye on the kindly man […] (p. 183)

   • 2007, www.urbandictionary.com, [2]

     You are freaking me out with your wally eye. One of your eyes is doing its own thing.

Related terms

• peely-wally

 

See also

• walleye

Etymology 3

Verb

wally

1. (colloquial, obsolete, Essex) Alternative pronunciation (and hence spelling) of value
   • 1880, Sabine Baring-Gould, Mehalah: a story of the salt marshes:

     Let them that wallys the sheep watch 'em.

Anagrams

• lawly, yaw'll