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cully

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cully¹

  • /ˈkʌli/ UK, US

Rhymes with -ʌli

Where it comes from

Uncertain. Short for cullion? Compare Irish cuallaí (“companion”)

noun cullies

  1. archaic A person who is easily tricked or imposed on; a dupe, a gullible person. Yet the rich Cullies may their boaſting ſpare; / They purchaſe but ſophiſticated VVare.
  2. slang A companion.
  3. archaic, historical A male client of a prostitute; a john, a gonk. 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 cullies · cullying · cullied

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

Cully²

Where it comes from

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Colla (“descendant of Colla”), a personal name of unknown origin.

proper noun Cullys · Culley

  1. A surname from Irish.

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Cite this
MLA

"cully." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cully. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cully. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cully

Chicago

"cully." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cully.

BibTeX
@misc{cully_2026,
  title = {cully},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cully},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}