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nelly

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nelly¹

  • /nɛli/ UK

Rhymes with -ɛli

Where it comes from

Shortened from Nelly Duff, for puff, i.e. breath of life.

noun nellies

  1. Cockney, slang A person's life.

nelly²

  • /nɛli/ UK

Rhymes with -ɛli

Where it comes from

From the woman's name Nelly.

noun nellies

  1. derogatory, slang An effeminate homosexual man.
  2. UK, slang A silly person.
  3. A giant petrel, Macronectes giganteus and Macronectes halli.

adjective nellier · nelliest

  1. slang Unmanly; effeminate. From Christopher Street to Castro Street, these men are peddling the same message. I'm butch, a macho man. Well, it ain't necessarily so. In fact, as a general rule of thumb, the butcher the get-up, the nellier the wearer.

Nelly³

  • /ˈnɛli/

Rhymes with -ɛli

proper noun

  1. alternative Alternative spelling of Nellie
  2. One of the Frazier Islands where nellies breed.
  3. A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: mrs, miss, nellie, neely, nigel, nick, uncle ned, nibs, alrightnik, neddy, cockney, sigh, brass nail, niggy, nicker, cobblers

Translations

Every language

noun petrel

DeutschRiesensturmvogel

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Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{nelly_2026,
  title = {nelly},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/nelly},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}