gully

See also: Gully

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: gŭl'ē, IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌli/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ʌli

Etymology 1

(sense 1) Gully

Origin uncertain. Possibly from a variant of Middle English golet (“esophagus, gullet”), from Old French goulet, from Latin gula (“throat”). Shift in meaning in Middle English to "water channel, ravine" may have been influenced by Middle English gylle, gille, galle (“deep narrow valley, ravine”); see gill.

Alternatively, from a diminutive of dialectal gull (“fissue, chasm”) +‎ -y (diminutive suffix). See gull, gullick.

Noun

gully (plural gullies)

2. A trench, ravine or narrow channel which was worn by water flow, especially on a hillside.

   Synonym: gill

3. A small valley.
4. (UK) A drop kerb.
5. A road drain.
   • 2021 June 16, “Network News: Drainage work at Guiseley station”, in RAIL, number 933, page 19:

     A new drainage run and rainwater gullies are to be installed between the station and Oxford Road, with completion planned for December 1.

6. (cricket) A fielding position on the off side about 30 degrees behind square, between the slips and point; a fielder in such a position

   Synonym: box

7. (UK) A grooved iron rail or tram plate.

Alternative forms

• gulley

Derived terms

• gullick
• gully bean
• gully eductor
• gully emptier
• gully gut
• gully-hole
• gully hole
• gully-raker
• gully sucker
• gully wash
• gullywasher
• Tea Tree Gully

 

Related terms

• gullet

Descendants

• → French: gollé
• → German: Gully

Translations

a trench, ravine or narrow channel which was worn by water flow, especially on a hillside

• Bulgarian: дере (bg) n (dere), овраг (bg) m (ovrag)
• Czech: žleb m, úžlabina f, strouha f
• Dutch: geul (nl) f
• Galician: corgo (gl) m, caivanca f, carronzo m, carriozo m
• Georgian: ხევი (xevi)
• German: Erosionsrinne f, Wasserfurche f, Wasserrinne f, Graben (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: χαράδρα f (kharádra)

• Hungarian: vízmosás (hu), árok (hu)
• Icelandic: skorningur m
• Italian: calanco (it) m
• Kabuverdianu: barrónke, baranku
• Maori: kōawaawa, kowaka (if it contains no water), parari
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ravine m

  Nynorsk: ravine m

• Ottoman Turkish: بوغاز (boğaz), دره (dere)
• Plautdietsch: Schälran f
• Portuguese: corgo (pt) m
• Russian: ложби́на (ru) f (ložbína), промо́ина (ru) f (promóina), буера́к (ru) m (bujerák), ры́твина (ru) f (rýtvina), вы́моина (ru) f (výmoina), кулуар (ru) m (kuluar)
• Spanish: barranco (es) m
• Ukrainian: яр (uk) m (jar)
• Yagara: pilla

A small valley

• Czech: úžlabina f, rokle (cs) f, žleb m, úzké údolí
• Hungarian: árok (hu)
• Maori: kopia

A road drain

• Bulgarian: канавка (bg) f (kanavka)
• Czech: strouha f
• German: Gully (de) m

Verb

gully (third-person singular simple present gullies, present participle gullying, simple past and past participle gullied)

1. (obsolete) To flow noisily.
2. (transitive) To wear away into a gully or gullies.

Etymology 2

From Scots gully, of unknown origin.

Noun

gully (plural gullies)

1. (Scotland, northern UK) A large knife.
   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part IV (The Stockade), page 139:

     With that I made my mind up, took out my gully, opened it with my teeth, and cut one strand after another […]

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Hindustani گَلی (galī) / गली (galī); spelling probably influenced by other uses of this word.

Alternative forms

• gali

Noun

gully (plural gullies)

1. (chiefly South Asia) An alleyway or side street. [from 19th c.]
   • 2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 3:

     Older boys play gali cricket, while young girls watch them shyly from a distance.

Further reading

• gully on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Gullies And Other Knives

See also

• hully gully (probably etymologically unrelated)

Scots

Etymology

Unknown.

Noun

gully (plural gullies)

1. large knife

   God than he lewch and owre the dyk lap, / And owt of his scheith his gully owtgatt. (The Bannatyne Manuscript)