silly
Etymology

From Middle English seely, sēlī, from Old English sǣliġ, ġesǣliġ, from Proto-West Germanic *sālīg, from *sāli.

The semantic evolution is “lucky” → “innocent” → “naïve” → “foolish”. Compare the similar evolution of daft (originally meaning “accommodating”), and almost the reverse with nice (originally meaning “ignorant”).

Pronunciation Adjective

silly (comparative sillier, superlative silliest)

  1. Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene i], line 209:
      This is the silliest stuffe, that euer I heard.
    • 1726 October 27, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver's Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC ↗, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), pages 226–227 ↗:
      I remember, before the Dwarf left the Queen, he followed us one day into thoſe gardens, and my Nurſe having ſet me down, he and I being cloſe together, near ſome Dwarf Apple trees, I muſt need ſhew my Wit, by a ſilly Alluſion between him and the Trees, which happens to hold in their Language as it doth in ours.
    • 1970, Graham Chapman et al., Monty Python's Flying Circus, I, 183:
      Well sir, I have a silly walk and I'd like to obtain a Government grant to help me develop it.
    1. (of numbers, particularly prices) Absurdly large.
      • 1875 June 26, Saturday Review, 815/2:
        He cannot achieve celebrity by covering himself with diamonds... or by giving a silly price for a hack.
  2. (chiefly, Scottish, obsolete) Blessed, particularly:
    1. Good; pious.
      • a. 1450, Seven Sages, line 1361:
        The sylyman lay and herde,
        And hys wyf answerd.
    2. Holy.
  3. (now, chiefly, Scottish and northern England, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion, particularly:
    • 1556 in 1880, William Henry Turner, Selections from the Records of the City of Oxford... 1509–83, 246:
      The fire raging upon the silly Carcase.
    1. (now, literary) Innocent; suffering undeservedly, especially as an epithet of lambs and sheep.
      • a. 1475, in 1925, Rossell Hope Robbins, Secular Lyrics of the 14th & 15th Centuries, 109:
        There is no best in þe word, I wene...
        That suffuris halfe so myche tene
        As doth þe sylly wat.
      • a. 1513, William Dunbar, Poems, section 247:
        In the silly lambis skin He crap als far as he micht win.
    2. (now, literary) Helpless, defenseless.
      scared silly
      • 1539, Juan Luis Vives, translated by Richard Morison, Introduction to Wysedome:
        Wherfore Christe must soo moche the more instantelye be sought vpon, that he may vouchsafe to defende vs sylly wretches.
      • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii ↗:
        Ah Shepheard, pity my diſtreſſed plight,
        (If as thou ſeem’ſt, thou art ſo meane a man)
        And ſeeke not to inrich thy followers,
        By lawleſſe rapine from a ſilly maide, […]
      • 1665, Hugo Grotius, translated by Thomas Manley, De Rebus Belgicis, section 938:
        There remained fresh Examples of their Barbarism against weak Sea-men, and silly Fisher-men.
    3. Insignificant, worthless, (chiefly, Scottish) especially with regard to land quality.
      • a. 1500, Aesop, translated by Robert Henryson, Two Mice:
      • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene iii], line 93:
        […] A pettigree
        Of threescore and two yeares a sillie time,
        To make prescription for a kingdomes worth.
      • 1907, Transactions of the Highland & Agricultural Society, 19, 172:
        It is naturally very poor, ‘silly’ land.
    4. Weak, frail; flimsy (use concerning people and animals is now obsolete).
      • 1567, John Maplet, A Greene Forest:
        Here we see that a smal sillie Bird knoweth how to match with so great a Beast.
      • 1587, Philippe de Mornay, translated by Philip Sidney et al., A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, xxxii, 596:
        [Christ] leaueth neither Children nor kinsfolke behind him to vphold his sillie kingdome.
      • 1946, Scottish National Dictionary, published 1971, Vol. VIII, 234/3:
        That'll never grow. It's ower silly.
    5. Sickly; feeble; infirm.
      • 1636, Alexander Montgomerie, The Cherrie & the Slae, line 1512:
        To doe the thing we can
        To please...
        This silly sickly man.
      • 1818, Heart of Mid-Lothian, Walter Scott, section V:
        Is there ony thing you would particularly fancy, as your health seems but silly?
  4. (now, rural UK, rare) Simple, plain, particularly:
    1. Rustic, homely.
      • 1570, John Foxe, Actes & Monumentes, Vol. II, 926/1:
        Dauid had no more but a sylie slynge, and a few stones.
    2. (obsolete) Lowly, of humble station.
      • a. 1547, the Earl of Surrey translating Publius Virgilius Maro, Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aeneis, Book II:
        The silly herdman all astonnied standes.
      • 1568, Alexander Scott, Poems, section 27:
        So luvaris lair no leid suld lak,
        A lord to lufe a silly lass.
  5. Mentally simple, foolish, particularly:
    1. (obsolete) Rustic, uneducated, unlearned.
      • 1687, Jean de Thévenot, translated by Archibald Lovell, The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the Levant, i, 2:
        From Hell (of which the silly people of the Country think the top of this hill to be the mouth).
    2. Thoughtless, lacking judgment.
      • 1576, Abraham Fleming translating Sulpicius, A Panoplie of Epistles, 24:
        Wee sillie soules, take the matter too too heauily.
      • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, iii, 252:
        ‘Heaven help this silly fellow,’ murmured the perplexed locksmith.
      • 1972, George Lucas et al., American Graffiti, section 8:
        Steve, don't be silly. I mean social intercourse.
    3. (Scottish) Mentally retarded.
      • 1568, Christis Kirk on Grene:
        Fow ȝellow ȝellow wes hir heid bot scho of lufe wes sillie.
      • 1814, Waverley, Walter Scott, III, xvi, 237:
        Davie's no just like other folk... but he's no sae silly as folk tak him for.
    4. Stupefied, senseless; stunned or dazed.
      • 1829 January 17, Lancaster Gazette:
        You say you were knocked silly—was that so?
      • 1907, John Millington Synge, Playboy of the Western World, iii, 64:
        Drinking myself silly...
      • 1942, J. Chodorov et al., Junior Miss, ii, i, 113:
        Well, Judy, now that you've scared me silly, what's so important?
  6. (cricket, of a fielding position) Very close to the batsman, facing the bowler; closer than short.
    • 1862 July 4, Notts. Guardian:
      Carpenter now placed himself at silly-point for Grundy, who was playing very forward.
Synonyms Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of “playful”): pious
Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • French: abruti
  • Portuguese: semiconsciente, aéreo
  • Spanish: semiaturdido
Translations Adverb

silly (comparative sillier, superlative silliest)

  1. (now, regional or colloquial) Sillily: in a silly manner.
    • 1731, Colley Cibber, Careless Husband, 7th edition, i, i, 21:
      If you did but see how silly a Man fumbles for an Excuse, when he's a little asham'd of being in Love.
Noun

silly (plural sillies)

  1. (colloquial) A silly person.
    • 1807 May, Scots Magazine, 366/1:
      While they, poor sillies, bid good night,
      O' love an' bogles eerie.
  2. (affectionate, gently pejorative) A term of address.
    • 1918 September, St. Nicholas, 972/2:
      ‘Come on, silly,’ said Nannie.
  3. (colloquial) A mistake.
Translations


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