jelly

plural jellies · alternative obsolete gelly

1. CommonwealthcountableuncountableA dessert made by boiling gelatine (or a plant-based alternative such as agar or carrageenan), sugar and some flavouring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set.

   His mother prepared jelly for him and his friends for dessert.

   1 more example

   Rincewind relaxed slightly, which was to say that he still made a violin string look like a bowl of jelly.

   1983, Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic, published 2022, page 127

   Synonyms: jello, jello, Jell-O

2. CanadaUScountableuncountableA clear or translucent fruit preserve, made from fruit juice and set using either naturally occurring, or added, pectin.

   Perfect jelly is of appetizing flavor; beautifully colored and translucent; tender enough to cut easily with a spoon, yet firm enough to hold its shape when turned from the glass.

   1945, Fannie Merritt Farmer and Wilma Lord Perkins (revisor), The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Eighth edition

   1 more example

   Jelly has great clarity. Two cooking processes are involved. First, the juice alone is extracted from the fruit. Only that portion thin and clear enough to drip through a cloth is cooked with sugar until sufficiently firm to hold its shape. It is never stiff and never gummy.

   1975, Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker, The Joy of Cooking, 5th revision

   Synonyms: jam, jam, marmalade

3. CaribbeanJamaicaabbreviationclippingcountableuncountableClipping of jelly coconut.
4. countableuncountableA savoury substance, derived from meat, that has the same texture as the dessert.

   Synonyms: aspic

5. countableuncountableAny substance or object having the consistency of the dessert or preserve.

   calf's-foot jelly

   2 more examples

   Sam floored him perpetually, and beat his face to a jelly, without getting a scratch.

   1821, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 8, page 67

   […] some of the profounder scholars are altogether too great for locomotion, and are carried from place to place in a sort of sedan tub, wabbling jellies of knowledge that enlist my respectful astonishment.

   1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “chapter 24”, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, […], published 1901, →OCLC

6. countableuncountablebiologyA jellyfish.

   Species of the phylum Cnidaria – the classic jelly – have existed in something close to their current form for at least 565 million years; Ctenophora, the comb jellies, are not much younger.

   2014, Theo Tait, ‘Water-Borne Zombies’, London Review of Books, volume 36, number 5

7. archaiccountableslanguncountableA pretty girl; a girlfriend.

   ‘Gowan goes to Oxford a lot,’ the boy said. ‘He′s got a jelly there.’

   1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage, published 1993, page 25

8. UScountableslanguncountableA large backside, especially a woman's.

   I shake my jelly at every chance / When I whip with my hips you slip into a trance

   2001, “Bootylicious”, in Survivor, performed by Destiny's Child

   1 more example

   At that Sister Samantha seemed to shake her jelly so that she sank back into her chair.

   2001, George Dell, Dance Unto the Lord, page 94

9. alternativecolloquialcountableuncountableAlternative spelling of gelly: clipping of gelignite.
10. colloquialcountableuncountableA jelly shoe.

    Mary Alice gazed at a picture of herself wearing jellies and an oversized turquoise T-shirt that matched her eyes […]

    2006, David L. Marcus, What It Takes to Pull Me Through

11. UScolloquialcountableuncountableBlood.

present singular third person jellies · participle present jellying · participle past jellied · past jellied · alternative obsolete gelly

1. transitiveTo make into jelly.
2. transitiveTo preserve in jelly.
3. To wiggle like jelly.

comparative more jelly · superlative most jelly · alternative obsolete gelly

1. slangJealous.

   Shame on all you haters out there! You’re all just jelly!

   2012 January 10, pussykatt [username], “BLIND GOSSIP 01/09/12 **BLIND ITEM 2**”, in alt.gossip.celebrities (Usenet)

   3 more examples

   If the guy wants to party and bang porn stars, and he's not hurting anyone who really cares? I think a lot of guys are just jelly! :-)

   2011 February 28, Abby Normal [username], “Re: OT VERY FUNNY: MY NEW HERO CHARLIE SHEEN”, in rec.games.pinball (Usenet)

   "I think other people make rude comments because they're jelly [jealous] bro," Schroer said. "We're just showing our love to other people."

   2011, "Exchange smiles, not saliva", The Banner (Grand Blanc High School), Volume 47, Issue 2, December 2011, page 17

   “It's fine. I hate the beach anyway. Everyone's so jelly of my thigh gap.”

   2025 March 2, Tom Kauffman, “Training Wheels Day” (6:12 from the start), in Grimsburg, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Mr. Flesh (Alan Tudyk)

alternative obsolete gelly

1. IndiauncountableVitrified brick refuse used as metal in building roads.

   Under pinning with jelly in chunam — one square.

   1862, Notes on Building and Road-making, with Rules for Estimating Repairs to Tanks and Channels, page 143