chilly
Pronunciation
  • (RP, GA) IPA: /ˈtʃɪli/
Adjective

chilly (comparative chillier, superlative chilliest)

  1. cold#Adjective|Cold enough to cause discomfort.
    • 1843 December 18, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], OCLC 55746801 ↗, page 50 ↗:
      There was an earthy savour in the air, a chilly bareness in the place, which associated itself somehow with too much getting up by candle-light, and not too much to eat.
  2. feel#Verb|Feeling uncomfortably cold.
    I’m getting rather chilly over here – could you shut the window please?
    • 1719 April 24, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: Printed by W[illiam] Taylor […], OCLC 15864594 ↗; 3rd edition, London: Printed by W[illiam] Taylor […], 1719, OCLC 838630407 ↗, page 101 ↗:
      June 18. Rain'd all Day, and I ſtay'd within. I thought at this Time the Rain felt Cold, and I was ſomething chilly, which I knew was not uſual in that Latitude.
    • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Printed [by Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, OCLC 830979744 ↗, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=emu.010001278703;view=1up;seq=177 page 169]:
      And now, behold, with the first imagination of danger, or, if you will, the first mighty and terrific trial of your courage, you shrink away, and are content to be handed down as men who had not strength enough to endure cold and peril; and so, poor souls, they were chilly and returned to their warm fire-sides.
  3. (figuratively) Distant and cool; unfriendly.
    She gave me a chilly look when I made the suggestion.
Synonyms Translations Translations Noun

chilly (plural chillies)

  1. Alternative spelling of chili.



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