See also: Wally

English edit

Etymology 1 edit

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

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /wɒli/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɒli

Noun edit

wally (plural wallies)

  1. (Britain, 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 edit

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

Adjective edit

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 edit

See also edit

Etymology 3 edit

Verb edit

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 edit