nelly

See also: Nelly

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /nɛli/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛli

Etymology 1

Shortened from Nelly Duff, for puff, i.e. breath of life.

Noun

nelly (plural nellies)

1. (Cockney rhyming slang) A person's life.

Usage notes

• Used principally in the phrase not on your nelly.

Etymology 2

From the woman's name Nelly.

Noun

nelly (plural nellies)

1. (derogatory, slang) An effeminate homosexual man. ^[1]
2. (British, slang) A silly person.
3. A giant petrel, Macronectes giganteus and Macronectes halli.

Hyponyms

• (petrel): Antarctic giant petrel, northern giant petrel, southern giant fulmar, southern giant petrel

Derived terms

• high nelly
• high-nelly
• nervous-nelly
• nervous nelly
• nice-nelly
• wet nelly

 

Translations

petrel

German: Riesensturmvogel

Adjective

nelly (comparative nellier, superlative nelliest)

1. (slang) Unmanly; effeminate.
   • 1979 April 21, Greg Jackson, “He Looks Like Tarzan But He Talks Like Jane”, in Gay Community News, page 17:

     From Christopher Street to Castro Street, these men are peddling the same message. I'm butch, a macho man. Well, it ain't necessarily so. In fact, as a general rule of thumb, the butcher the get-up, the nellier the wearer.

   • 2012, Lee Lynch, The Raid:

     Some of the nelliest boys unable to get or keep a job, some of the toughest girls breaking their bodies trying to do men's work.

References

1. Reuben, David R. (1969) chapter 8, in Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were too afraid to ask, New York: David McKay Company, Inc., published 1970, →LCCN, Homosexuals have their own language?, page 146: “NELLY: effeminate homosexual”