| 释义 |
sillyadj.n.adv. Origin: A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: seely adj. Etymology: Originally a variant of seely adj., with shortening of the vowel (compare the discussion in E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §11; compare also sil , sell , Middle English variants of sele n.). Compare earlier i-seli adj. and i-sele adj.Earlier currency of forms with a short vowel is perhaps implied by surnames: compare (as simplex) John Silly (1300), and (as part of a compound; compare quot. a1450), Will. Selliman (1280), and Silyman (1327). In Middle English sometimes difficult to distinguish from selly adj. N.E.D. (1911) s.v. seely also records the 14th-cent. forms celly , selli , selly , but no evidence is given, and it is possible that these are really forms of selly adj. In the 16th and 17th centuries silly was very extensively used in senses A. 2 – A. 5, and in a number of examples it is difficult to decide which shade of meaning was intended by the writer. In modern use the dominant adjectival sense is sense A. 6. A. adj.†I. Senses relating to worthiness or blessedness. 1. Chiefly Scottish. society > faith > aspects of faith > holiness > [adjective] a1450 (Cambr. Dd.1.17) (1845) l. 1361 The sylyman lay and herde, And hys wyf answerd. 1559 D. Lindsay Test. Papyngo 908 in (1931) I. 83 The sillye Nonnis did ȝeild thame haistelye. 1597–8 in J. Stuart (1841) I. 120 Sindrie vther orisonis, sic as of Sanct Johne, and of the thrie sillie brethrene. a1598 D. Fergusson (1641) sig. A3v A sillie bairne is eith to lear. 1825 J. Jamieson Suppl. Silly,..8. Good, worthy; a sense peculiar to Liddesdale. the world > action or operation > prosperity > [adjective] > favoured or attended by good fortune > auspicious 1650 in W. Cramond (1885) 21 Ther had bene great confluences of people at a chappell..thrie Saturdayes befor Lambas and thrie efter called the six silie Saturdayes. II. Senses relating to weakness, vulnerability, or physical incapacity. 2. Helpless, defenceless, powerless; frequently with the suggestion of innocence or undeserved suffering. the world > animals > by nature > [adjective] > helpless the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > genus Ovus > [adjective] > defined by character a1475 in R. H. Robbins (1952) 109 (MED) There is no best in þe word..That suffuris halfe so myche tene As doth þe sylly wat. a1513 W. Dunbar (1998) I. 247 In the silly lambis skin He crap als far as he micht win. a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil (1960) xi. xiii. 168 As the happy goishalk..persewis wonder sair The silly dow. 1564 W. Bullein f. 46v The poore cillie Mouse, crept out of her small caue.., thinkyng no harme. 1620 F. Quarles sig. Bv The Woolfe shall fawne vpon the silly Sheepe. 1644 F. Quarles 135 The silly Sheep reposed in their warme fleeces. 1733 Z. G. 6 The Commissioners of Excise always setting them on (like Mastiff Dogs on silly Sheep). 1780 W. Cowper 119 His silly sheep, what wonder if they stray? 1866 M. Arnold Thyrsis v, in Apr. 450 He could not keep..Here with the shepherds and the silly sheep. 1953 R. Pitter 16 And when a silly lamb Turned back in fright A withered or an infant hand Guided him right. the world > action or operation > ability > inability > [adjective] > lacking resourcefulness > and defenceless 1539 R. Morison tr. J. L. Vives sig. G.viii Consyder, in what dangers man is, whyle he lyeth lyke a deade carkas, hauynge noo power of hym selfe. Wherfore Christe must soo moche the more instantelye be sought vpon, that he may vouchsafe to defende vs sylly wretches [L. nos tam imbecillos]. 1587 G. Turberville f. 17v Making him repine, To see a sillie dame so sore distreste. 1610 J. Guillim iii. xxvi. 182 Not vnlike those deuillish witches, that doe worke the destruction of silly Infants. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iv. i. 70 Prouided that you do no outrages On silly women, or poore passengers. View more context for this quotation 1665 T. Manley tr. H. Grotius 938 There remained fresh Examples of their Barbarism against weak Sea-men, and silly Fisher-men. 1703 II. vii. 248 Who behaved themselves with such inhumanity, that they Charged among the silly Women. 1818 J. Hogg II. iii. 64 His daughter..asked how he could be frightened to go where a silly girl, his own child, led the way? 1896 D. S. Meldrum 25 She cam' to us a bit silly lass rising seventeen, and ower auld for schulin'. 1964 3rd Statist. Acct. Scotl. i. vi. 53 A herd..would be a gey sillie body if he hadna a good dug. 3. the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior thing > [adjective] the world > relative properties > quantity > insufficiency > [adjective] > limited in quantity or amount > scanty or meagre a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Two Mice l. 199 in (1981) 11 It was ane semple wane..Ane sillie scheill vnder ane erdfast stane. 1568 (a1500) Colkelbie Sow ii. 60 in W. T. Ritchie (1930) IV. 298 Thre silly pennyis suthly I hald the same. 1595 W. Shakespeare iii. iii. 93 You tell a pettigree Of threescore and two yeares a sillie time, To make prescription for a kingdomes worth. 1613 T. Jackson i. 187 Where they found but silly shelter. 1637 S. Rutherford (1894) 360 Oh how silly an advantage is my deprivation to men, seeing that my Lord Jesus hath many ways to recover His own losses. 1676 J. D. 5 They prize their bodies above their eternity in heaven; this silly clay house above that building of God. 1704 B. Mandeville 43 Let me grow bigger, throw me in. Some two Year hence you'll catch m' again..now I'm such a silly Fish, A hundred would not make a Dish. 1767 Sir R. Colville in R. Dossie (1768) I. 412 Marsh land, of a light, silly, hungry soil. 1809 June 277 The soil is a poor thin silly clay, destitute of every ingredient by which it can be converted to useful purposes. 1883 R. Cleland vii I'm but a puir door-keeper in the house of the Lord, juist a puir silly earthen vessel. 1907 19 172 It is naturally very poor, ‘silly’ land. the world > life > the body > bodily constitution > bodily weakness > [adjective] the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > of little importance or trivial > of people or animals 1567 J. Maplet f. 71v Here we see that a smal sillie Bird knoweth how to match with so great a Beast. 1574 St. Avstens Manuell in sig. Sv Why raungest thou then through so many thynges O silie man? 1611 J. Speed ix. iii. 433/1 A Colliers Cart..drawne with one silly leane Beast. 1633 G. Herbert Sighs & Grones in i Thou onely art The mightie God, but I a sillie worm. 1665 T. Herbert (new ed.) 339 They are..so innocent as not to take away the life of the silliest vermin. the world > matter > constitution of matter > weakness > [adjective] the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > of little importance or trivial 1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay xxxii. 596 He [sc. Christ] leaueth neither Children nor kinsfolke behind him to vphold his sillie kingdome [Fr. ce miserable Empire]. 1598 Bp. J. Hall v. i. 56 Of one bayes bread'th, God wot, a silly cote. 1621 R. Burton ii. iii. iii. 403 When as the lofty oake is blowne downe, the silly reed may stand. 1653 H. More 40 By dissection you discover this Worker of Miracles to be nothing but a poor silly contemptible Knob or Protuberency. 1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc 144 Many times 'tis but a scarf or silly taffeta ribbon. 1847 Jan. 38 He selected the strongest of the set [of casting-lines], remarking..that it was ‘a hantle ower silly for the job’. 1889 J. M. Barrie 209 I was sawin'.., an' little Rob was haudin' the booards, for they were silly but things. 1946 in (1971) VIII. 234/3 Leuk for a thicker stick nor that, min; that een's ower silly. That [spindly plant] 'll never grow. It's ower silly. the world > health and disease > ill health > [adjective] > in state of ill health or diseased > weak 1636 A. Montgomerie (new ed.) 1512 To doe the thing we can To please..This silly sickly man. 1774 D. Graham (ed. 3) ix. 86 Cold water struck the women's belly, It made them prove both faint and silly. 1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian v, in 2nd Ser. II. 104 Is there ony thing you would particularly fancy, as your health seems but silly? 1821 J. Galt i. 18 She was but of a silly constitution. 1881 viii. 108 I'se nobbut silly yet at times, but I'll soon be aboot again. a1917 E. C. Smith (1927) 20 She's aye been a silly bairn; she's never thrivven sin she hed the mizzls. the mind > emotion > compassion > quality of exciting pity > [adjective] > deserving pity a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil (1957) i. vi. 43 Ane husband, quhilk Sycheus hecht, had sche,..And strangly luffit of the silly Dido. 1556 in W. H. Turner (1880) 246 The fire raging upon the silly Carcase. 1595 liv. 213 With these or the like exclaimes, this silly aged King..lay still a while. 1641 J. Jackson iii. 187 What is poore, and silly man alone, but a very scrich-owle, and satyre. 1680 T. Otway ii. 20 I might have trusted him with all the secret, Open'd my silly heart and shewn it bare. 1723 A. Ramsay I. 157 Good wife, for your Courtesie, Will ye lodge a silly poor Man. 1764 T. Reid i. §6. 103 Is this thy pastime, O Nature, to put such tricks upon a silly creature? 1808 J. Jamieson Silly..in the same sense as E. poor is often used, denoting a state which excites compassion. 1859 W. Dickinson 101 He's nobbet hed peer luck, silly man. 1894 R. O. Heslop (at cited word) The bit bairn's asleep noo, silly thing. III. Senses relating to simplicity of character or form and (by extension) to foolishness or mental incapacity. 5. the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > [adjective] the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior person > [adjective] the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [adjective] > specifically of persons a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil (1557) ii. sig. Biiv The silly herdman [L. inscius..pastor] all astonnied standes. 1597 R. Hooker v. lxxxi. 260 To make the sillie people belieue that the contrarie is maintained by the Bishops. a1633 G. Herbert (1652) xxi. 85 Socrates..found Philosophy in silly Trades-men. 1645 J. Milton On Christ's Nativity: Hymn viii, in 5 Perhaps their loves, or els their sheep, Was all that did their silly thoughts so busie keep. 1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot i. 2 From Hell (of which the silly people of the Country think the top of this hill to be the mouth). 1739 J. Hildrop 2 The glaring Absurdities of Priest-craft..daily become the Scorn and Contempt of the sillyest Part of the People. 1796 R. Southey i. 41 If, as I believe, this is of Heaven, My silly speech doth wrong it. society > society and the community > social class > the common people > low rank or condition > [adjective] 1568 A. Scott (1896) 27 So luvaris lair no leid suld lak, A lord to lufe a silly lass. 1587 A. Fleming et al. (new ed.) III. 56/1 He was shot thorough with an arrow amongst his men by a sillie footman. 1607 S. Hieron 99 Little thought shee that silly man that sate there..was the Sauiour of the worlde. 1632 W. Lithgow ix. 388 This Duke, before whose face the silly ones did shine, and the proud stiffe-necked oppressours did tremble. 1647 T. Fuller ii. xvi. 87 The siliest and simplest being wronged, may justly speake in their owne defence. the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [adjective] > vulgar > specifically of material things 1570 J. Foxe (rev. ed.) II. 926/1 Dauid had no more but a sylie slynge, and a few stones. 1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Ep. Ded. sig. **iij Consider how the silie netts of those Fishermen drew the pride of the world..to beleeve. 1610 J. Guillim iv. v. 198 Before the inuention of Printing, the only means of preseruing good Arts..was by this silly instrument, The Penne. 1753 S. Foote ii. 33 I am quite enchanted with this new instrument; 'tis so languishing and so portable, and so soft and so silly. 1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere v, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge 26 The silly buckets on the deck.., I dreamt that they were fill'd with dew. 1834 May 672/2 Brutal in form, and grovelling low, In silly garb array'd. 1904 S. P. Hawes in V. 435/2 [Essex] I can't remember that child's name, I know it's a very silly name. 6. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > giddiness, empty-headedness > [adjective] c1555 sig. C.iii And like as it is a gentle and old prouerbe, Let losers haue their wordes: so by the way take forth this lesson, euer to shew gentlenes to ye silly foles. 1576 A. Fleming tr. Sulpicius in 24 Wee sillie soules, take the matter too too heauily. 1598 J. Florio A sillie Iohn, a gull, a noddie. 1611 2 Tim. iii. 6 Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and leade captiue silly women. View more context for this quotation 1691 J. Hartcliffe 3 A wise and good Man..will neither be so stupid, as to be surpriz'd with any Disaster, nor so silly, as to encrease it by a fruitless Anxiety. 1728 E. Young (ed. 2) v. 212 Her soul is silly, but her body's wise. 1766 C. O'Conor Diss. Scots 64 in Silly Man! The Ridicule recoils doubly on his own Head. 1833 H. Martineau v. 77 I should be very silly to pay when I might have them without. 1841 C. Dickens iii. 252 ‘Heaven help this silly fellow,’ murmured the perplexed locksmith. 1889 F. E. Gretton 312 The gentlemen often came into the drawing-room with glassy eyes, and silly of speech. 1934 J. B. Priestley ii The class to which I belong..is nothing but a set of damnable silly donkeys. 1972 G. Lucas et al. (film script) 8 Laurie. I said I'll have inter—. Steve. Don't say it!.. All this time you've been telling me you were saving yourself for—. Laurie. Steve don't be silly. I mean social intercourse. 1988 C. Meredith (1990) iii. 38 A fight in a pub that had simply started. Some silly bugger thinking he was John Wayne probably. 2011 (Nexis) 9 Dec. 49 My lowest moment was the samba. It's all sexy hip action and that's just not me. I felt silly. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [adjective] > of things, actions, etc. 1566 sig. *****4v These be but silly sleightes to dasell the eyes of the weake, on this maner, to make so huge a crye in so small a matter. 1598 W. Shakespeare iii. i. 73 By vertue thou inforcest laughter, thy sillie thought, my spleene. View more context for this quotation 1600 W. Shakespeare v. i. 209 This is the silliest stuffe, that euer I heard. View more context for this quotation 1639 T. Fuller i. viii. 11 His silly looks carried in them a despair of any worth. 1669 R. Montagu in (Hist. MSS Comm.) (1899) I. 461 He writes every week the silliest, foolishest stories in the world. a1771 T. Gray Jemmy Twitcher in (1782) lii. 39 At our time of life 'twould be silly, my dear. 1780 W. Cowper 380 With awkward gait, stretch'd neck, and silly stare. 1833 Dec. 687/2 In his dress, he..was even gaudy, and displayed a boyish fondness for the silly fashions of the time that was certainly far beneath his years. 1835 A. Ure p. x The silly blunder of estimating their own intrinsic resources above those of all the world beside. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus xxxix. 16 For silly laughter, it's a silly thing indeed. 1895 ‘G. Mortimer’ ii. 17 I wish you'd just try to persuade Lou off a silly idea she's just got hold of. 1907 Nov. 29/1 As for having flirted with Bob—that was silly, positively silly. 1949 P. Frankau i. v. 88 She wore a silly hat... This was a cock-eyed velvet chimney. 1970 G. Chapman et al. (1989) I. 183 Well sir, I have a silly walk and I'd like to obtain a Government grant to help me develop it. 2011 17 Mar. 11/1 It was a very, very silly thing to do. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > weakness of intellect > [adjective] the mind > mental capacity > psychology > developmental psychology > acquisition of knowledge > learning impairment > [adjective] 1568 Christis Kirk on Grene in W. T. Ritchie (1928) II. 262 Fow ȝellow ȝellow wes hir heid bot scho of lufe wes sillie. 1610 XLVI. f. 176v I leiff to Williame Ritchie sillie boy my blak cloik..for to be ane Sondayis cloik. 1619 22 Nov. Scho being found ane sillie simpill pure persoun..wes remittit. 1722 R. Wodrow II. 318 He did not recover the Exercise of his Reason fully, but was silly, and next to an Idiot. 1814 W. Scott III. xvi. 237 Davie's no just like other folk..; but he's no sae silly as folk tak him for. View more context for this quotation 1889 H. O'Reilly & J. Y. Nelson 9 A girl..who was a trifle silly. She could remember nothing, and was a great trouble. 1908 J. W. Coombes xvii. 106 This boy was silly, and was made a butt of by the other boys. 8. In predicative use (chiefly as object complement). the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > dullness of sense perception > [adjective] > stunned 1829 17 Jan. You say you were knocked silly—was that so? 1886 R. E. G. Cole (at cited word) It made me quiet [sic] silly for a time. 1892 W. Besant II. i. 9 We're knocked a bit silly just at first. 1926 A. Bennett i. lix. 264 Every traveller from overseas was knocked silly by the spectacle. 1948 J. Maresca xvi. 104 I feel like punching her silly but I decide I'll try to find out what makes her like that. 2004 A. James i. 15 You'll..have the urge to tie his arms behind his back and slap him silly. the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [verb (reflexive)] the mind > emotion > fear > quality of inspiring fear > frighten [verb (transitive)] 1859 F. W. Robinson II. iv. vi. 59 I'm like that Grecian Emperor who was so particular about his time that he used to fret himself silly if he lost a day. 1892 D. Strange 32 [Protectionists] laugh themselves silly as they ask how the tariff is added. 1907 J. M. Synge iii. 64 Drinking myself silly, and parlatic from the dusk to dawn. 1942 J. Chodorov & J. Fields ii. i. 113 Well, Judy, now that you've scared me silly, what's so important? 1965 J. Betjeman in 3 June 57 Where we can warm and hug each other silly. 1975 25 Dec. 1798/1 Many ornamental trees and shrubs..had flowered themselves silly in 1974. 1989 25 May 16/2 He says owners can now stuff dogs silly without ruining their digestions. 2007 N. Huston (2008) 217 Ye gods, Peter, you'll spoil her silly! society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > fielding > [adjective] > fielding positions society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > cricket ground > [noun] > parts of field 1862 4 July Carpenter now placed himself at silly-point for Grundy, who was playing very forward. 1884 2 Sept. 7/2 Briggs made a very poor stroke and placed a ball from Boyle in Palmer's hands at ‘silly mid-on’. 1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. I. 246 Silly—Applied to point, mid-on and mid-off, when they stand dangerously near the striker. 1904 11 June 3/1 Strudwick..jumped from silly-point and caught it almost on the leg side of the wicket. 1951 6 Feb. 20/5 Brown popped up the ball to silly leg when facing his first ball from Iverson. 2004 D. Lehmann 101 I was sent in to silly mid-off as soon as the spinners came on. 1875 26 June 815/2 He cannot achieve celebrity by covering himself with diamonds..or by giving a silly price for a hack. 1884 16 Mar. 2/2 A strong agitation is rising against the School Boards for excessive expenditure, and for having killed or driven silly numbers of children by educational overpressure. 1931 22 Feb. (Society & Fashions section) 2/4 He'd offered her silly amounts of expense money, which she refused. 1982 J. F. Eder v. 85 Andres's ego took on, at times, almost silly dimensions. 2011 (Nexis) 18 June (Mag. section) 6 I don't have any qualms about spending silly amounts of money on clothes for my gigs. B. n.1560 W. Baldwin sig. C.ii Repent you Leachers your dissolute lives, Your causeles divorsing your true wedded wives, Your crafty alluring the silly to sinne. c1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. x. 7 Lift up Thy heavnly hand, And by the sylly stand. 1656 W. Montagu tr. J. Du Bosc 81 The crafty are subject to do that by malice, which the silly do by misfortune. 1780 J. Hope 109 Neither the Wise nor the Silly are more to be distinguished by Laughter, than by any of the natural functions of the human body. 1813 W. Leslie (new ed.) xvi. 415 Those vagabond gospellers, who ply with assiduous delusion and cunning, among the silly and the weak, [etc.]. 1896 I. Zangwill xvii. 169 All the festering superstitions that fascinate the silly and the sentimental to-day. 1973 9 Aug. 350/2 The mindless and the silly are always open to being conned into believing that some new bit of technological wizardry is beneficial. 2002 J. Waldron iii. 74 The familiar distinctions between the wise and the silly, those who have attended to and those who have neglected their mental cultivation. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > foolish person, fool > [noun] 1807 May 366/1 While they, poor sillies, bid good night, O' love an' bogles eerie. 1858 K. H. Digby I. 68 While your regular critics, like great sillies, are mistaking jewels or fruits for dirt. 1889 W. S. Gilbert ii She is what is called a silly. 1918 Sept. 972/2 ‘Come on, silly,’ said Nannie. 1965 2 Dec. 931/3 Even those desperate sillies who read the novel as a worthy political tract might be sent back to it knowing it to be more about loneliness than about India. 2011 P. McCabe 237 O you men! she chuckled... You really can be such sillies at times, do you know that? C. adv.the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [adverb] 1731 C. Cibber (ed. 7) i. i. 21 If you did but see how silly [1705 sillily] a Man fumbles for an Excuse, when he's a little asham'd of being in Love. a1774 O. Goldsmith tr. P. Scarron (1775) II. iii. xiii. 268 I certainly behaved very silly, and she had a right to be angry with me. 1844 Jan. 218 I shall escape from myself, and from this beautiful critter, too, for I'm getting spoony, and shall talk silly presently. 1881 S. Evans (new ed.) (at cited word) How can you talk so silly? 1900 R. H. Barbour 70 We are going to see that you don't act silly and get put on probation. 1918 P. MacGill xii. 303 He began to speak silly about all sorts iv funny things. 2001 (Nexis) 12 Jan. a31 I really want to get better. I'm tired of walking silly. Phrases1815 F. Wrangham tr. Virgil i. 2 The city they call Rome, ah silly me! I fondly thought might like our Mantua be. 1840 Apr. 302/2 O silly me!—last night I went..[to] give the flower to her at once. 1907 M. L. Woods x. 91 ‘I was told that evening that you had said I couldn't get it—’ ‘Silly me!’ 1979 20 Sept. 11/3 It's a sort of joke, you say? Lighthearted. Fun. Of course! Silly me, I should have known. I mean, it's about women, isn't it? 2007 S. Dunne (2009) xxii. 322 Oops. Silly me. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > be or become foolish [verb (intransitive)] > act foolishly 1898 16 Apr. 5/6 To the outsider this state of things is very like the game—so designated by juvenile[s]—‘silly beggars’.] 1903 30 Aug. 6/6 If Mr. Reid wanted to play silly beggars with the electors of East Sydney, let him do so. 1952 B. Marshall xiv. 207 There was nothing that they could do except to watch and listen and pray and play ‘silly buggers’. 1968 M. Woodhouse ix. 95 If they want to play silly bleeders, let them. We're technicians. 1969 M. Pugh ii. 13 You know that whatever it is, it doesn't affect humans? Don't play silly bugger, Rab. 1972 ‘K. Royce’ iv. 50 I have to pin something on him to stop him playing silly b's. 2003 S. Mawer (2004) xix. 326 Stop playing silly buggers. We could die getting this wrong. 1946 7 Mar. 2/3 Well, ask a silly question and receive a silly answer. 1955 19 Nov. 6 He wished she'd give him a serious answer sometimes. Well, he thought, ask a silly question and you get a silly answer. 1970 M. Pereira xi. 122 ‘John? Tell me straight: do you or don't you?’ John Raze looked at his friend. ‘Ask a silly question…’ he said. Then after a pause: ‘No.’ 1981 C. Smythe xvi. 273 ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked. ‘Getting measured for a box, what do you think?’ I replied. Ask a silly question. 2009 (Nexis) 30 Oct. 14 If you ask him a silly question, he'll give you a silly answer. Compounds1593 W. Shakespeare sig. H It [sc. love] shall be raging mad, and sillie milde. View more context for this quotation a1658 J. Durham (1681) Ep. Ded. sig. **v Shall we look on the great multituds of Protestants..as a company of silly-pated ridiculs, rather to be pitied then as paterns to be imitated? 1760 R. James 186 The reason of which was owing to his [sc. a sheep-dog's] being what we vulgarly call silly mad. 1807 A. Seward (1811) VI. 388 A few extracts from the silly-titled poem Epics of the Ton. a1825 R. Forby (1830) Silly-bold, impertinently and unbecomingly free; assuming unseemly airs. 1903 R. Gower 258 Silly-faced Charles X in the same apparel. 1987 R. Curtis & B. Elton Blackadder the Third in R. Curtis et al. (1998) 245/1 (stage direct) Silly-dressed man blows a kazoo and laughs. No one else does. 2000 T. Hawks xv. 189 In the foyer I saw that Grigorii Corzun was in conversation with two silly-hatted men. 1715 J. Richardson 173 A Company of Awkward, and Silly-looking People, doing what is of no Consequence but to Themselves in their own Little Affairs. 1754 vi. 137 He got a Mistress that was well made, but with a silly looking Face. 1826 A. M. Porter I. iii. 135 He had nothing silly-seeming about him, except this laugh. 1839 J. Rogers 279 Salsafie..is retained in preference to the silly-sounding name of goat's-beard. 1900 30 June 22/3 I overheard some silly-looking woman at a polo match once bragging about her family. 1949 E. Bishop in 18 June 24/2 The razorbill auks and the silly-looking puffins all stand with their backs to the mainland in solemn, uneven lines. 1992 1 Oct. 14/3 Her unorthodox and sometimes silly-seeming techniques are no reflection of her seriousness about training. 2007 (National ed.) 16 Aug. b1/2 The play..includes a clown car full of stereotypes, all of whom seem to require a different silly-looking wig. C3. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [adjective] the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > foolish person, fool > [noun] 1608 R. Middleton sig. E1 Thou camst to Yorke, and liuest as thou was, A selfe-conceited foole, a silly asse. 1800 Sept. 284/2' ‘I know it, Ma'am,’ says Nan: ‘They took in Jack, poor silly ass, but take in me, who can!’ 1871 20 Mar. 207/1 Our bungling defence on land and sea shows us utter noodles and silly asses. 1905 22 Mar. 214/2 He inquired if Phyllis ‘had done the Academy yet’? Which, as it didn't open for some days, was a silly-ass thing to say. 1945 ‘G. Orwell’ in No. 2. 18 The silly-ass Englishman with his spats and his monocle. 1973 6 Sept. 320 The ‘silly asses’, the ‘knuts’ who were wiped out on the Somme. 2012 (Nexis) 6 Apr. a18 The millionaire ex-banker..is only doing what generations of privileged, silly-ass Tories have done through the ages. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > foolish person, fool > [noun] 1749 I. G. (title) The History of Filchum Cantum; or a Merry and diverting Dialogue between Apollo a Senator, Foolish Harry, Silly Billy, a Griffin, a Printer, [etc.]. 1833 W. Cobbett i. 303/1 Nicodème, a silly Billy. 1834 in J. Romilly Diary 13 Apr. in (1967) 55 He was in a towering passion for a minute but soon got into a good humour by laughing at the D. of Gloster. ‘Did you see silly Billy squirted on last night? it was worth 5£.’ 1872 B. Jerrold xv. 124 The silly-Billy of the neighbourhood—on whom the neighbourhood is merciless. 1934 R. Nichols 48 Come, come, don't be a silly-billy. 1969 A. Christie xvi. 173 The King what had a head like a pear was on the throne—Silly Billy, wasn't it, William IVth. 1997 9 Apr. (Suppl.) 3/4 What on earth have you got the door locked for you silly billies? 1864 C. Clarke & M.C. Clarke III. 278/1 (footnote) ‘Shrewd’ here comprises the sense of ‘mischievous’ as well as that of ‘silly clever’. 1946 ‘G. Orwell’ in Sept. 8 Innumerable silly-clever Conservatives..like Sir Alan Herbert, Professor G. M. Young, Lord Elton. 1963 11 May 538/1 Mr Khrushchev's silly-clever forward pass in Cuba. 2010 (Nexis) 6 Oct. History is full of silly-clever gentlemen who knew what was best for the benighted masses. the world > health and disease > healing > places for the sick or injured > [noun] > hospital or infirmary > hospital for the mentally ill 1930 ‘J. Bridie’ Sunlight Sonata in 150 Much more of you three and I'd have high-faluted my way to the Silly House. 1969 K. Giles x. 116 They used to allow me my News of the World in the silly house. 2001 J. Ware xxix. 242 They'd bundle him up in a straitjacket..and take him away to the silly house. 1980 26 Oct. 22/4 When you get to our level, the million pound transfer is merely diluted to the £100,000 transfer which is still stupid, silly money for us. 1983 18 Mar. 22/4 The days of the relentless trek south by [football] players lured by silly money are over. 2006 Dec. 9 Many of us remember the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, when silly money was spent on anything associated with the net. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [adjective] > of woman the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > foolish person, fool > [noun] > female the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > mental wandering > light-mindedness > [noun] > person > female 1894 M. Beerbohm Defence of Cosmetics in Apr. 70 She is the veriest little sillypop. 1895 18 May 230/3 On styge or on cinder-path, sillypop things As want to play Man and be Woman are trying to fly without wings. society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > a film > type of film > [noun] > animated cartoon 1929 29 Oct. 35/1 Oct. One [film] is ‘Springtime’, a Walt Disney ‘silly symphony’, which is humorously conceived. 1936 G. Greene i. iii. 67 Natives..looked like grasshoppers in a Silly Symphony. 1976 22/1 He [sc. Disney] pioneered the precise integration of the animated image with sound—particularly music—in the Silly Symphony series which began in 1928. 2002 5 25/2 His formal and thematic experiments are..shaped in large part by an early career in manga films and animation, and a love of Disney's Silly Symphonies. Derivatives 1708 in J. Grant (1912) 462 The prisoners of the ship are sillie lyck men and ill clothed. 1892 Jan. 74/2 Fur the time I wus deaf an' silly-like. 1915 J. J. Bell ix. 84 I had to buy her a silly-like wee tie that cost me eichteenpence-ha'penny. 1940 Dec. 58/1 Sleepy laughed, sillylike. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online June 2022). sillyv. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: silly adj. Now rare. 1. the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > physical insensibility > dullness of sense perception > dull (the senses) [verb (transitive)] > stupefy 1859 10 May 17 I felt great pain from the blows... It half sillied me at the time. 1886 R. E. G. Cole (at cited word) It didn't kill it, it only sillied it a bit. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > make foolish or a fool of [verb (transitive)] > oneself 1866 W. Gregor (Philol. Soc.) 155 Silly, to shew weakness of character; as, ‘He silliet himsel' in answerin' that stoopit letter i' the newspaiper’. the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > be or become foolish [verb (intransitive)] > act foolishly 1877 E. Peacock Sillying about, acting foolishly. 1892 R. Kipling & W. Balestier vi. 57 When a customer sillies about like that, promising to meet a man..and not showing up. 1917 ‘J. E. Buckrose’ xvi. 188 Ca' that dancing? I call it sillying about in 'er shift! 2012 Julia peachyju.blogspot.co.uk 22 Aug. (blog, accessed 29 Aug. 2012) This is just me sillying about with my friends' loli wig. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022). <  adj.n.adv.a1450 v.1859 |
