kelly

plural kellies

1. A square or hexagonal pipe that is turned in order to rotate the rotary table of a drilling rig.
2. A roly-poly (toy).

   Tumblers, tilters and kellys are those toys which have a circular base with a weighted end. They sway to and fro and are not knocked completely over. They derive from the East and have various names, but most represent stability in some form or another.

   1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 169

1. Kelly green.

   Heart's Desire—20 inch silk chiffon square—navy and shocking, grey and turquoise, brown and kelly, or green and violet, on white ground. $ 4.00 Matching contour belt […]

   1953, Harold Wallace Ross, William Shawn, Tina Brown, David Remnick, Katharine Sergeant Angell White, Rea Irvin, Roger Angell, The New Yorker, page 58

   1 more example

   Today there is no color or fabric that is out for girl or teen chubbies. Plaids, big, bold block designs, dark or light grounds, heavy textured wools, fleeces and brilliant colors of red, kelly or green, odd or off shades of rust, lavender, and other colors in the fashion cycle are now adapted in designing. Designers themselves have learned that the chubby is more truly eager for a fashionable dress[…]

   1947, Girls' and Teens' Merchandiser: The National Trade Magazine for the Girls' and Teens' Industrypage=31

plural Kellies · nonstandard plural Kellys · alternative Kelley · alternative Kelli · alternative Kellie

1. countableuncountableA surname from Irish, Anglicised from the Irish Ó Ceallaigh.

   One way to see the radicalization of the likes of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Megyn Kelly is that they are adopting Fuentes-Lite positions on issues like immigration and vaccines.

   2025 November 1, Richard Hanania, “It’s the Groypers’ America now We’re just living in it”, in UnHerd, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2025

   1 more example

   A better and more straightforward appeal, though less cool, was made to him by Hugh Kelly, - - - The play was so successful, and Garrick said so much of it that Lord Pembroke was eager to be back from Paris to see it, though he said, with true aristocratic pride, that he could expect very little from such a name as "Kelly", especially if there be an "O'" before it.

   1867, Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald, The Life of David Garrick, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, published 1899, page 319

2. A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
   1. countableuncountableA male given name transferred from the surname.
   2. countableuncountableA female given name transferred from the surname, popular from the 1960s to the 1990s.

      On the walls of the salon are blown-up photos of models with dazzling teeth and ingeniously tousled hair - women with names like Kelly and Dawn, who come from tiny towns in Texas and Washington, who are tall and thin, and who don't appear to be burdened by any pasts to speak of.

      1986, Daphne Merkin, chapter 1986, in Enchantment, Harcourt Brace Jovanovi, →ISBN, page 207

      1 more example

      One Nation, a new 501(c)4 linked to the Karl-Rove-backed American Crossroads super PAC, is spending more than $1.9 million on print, radio and digital ads highlighting the efforts of Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey to pass the “doc fix” legislation that realigned payments to Medicare providers with inflation.

      2015 May 12, Alexandra Jaffe, “First on CNN: New Rove-linked group spends $2M to boost GOP incumbents”, in CNN

3. A placename
   1. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Nemaha County, Kansas.
   2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Christian County, Kentucky.
   3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Caldwell Parish, Louisiana.
   4. countableuncountableA census-designated place in Bladen County, North Carolina.
   5. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Grand Forks County, North Dakota.
   6. countableuncountableA township in Union County, Pennsylvania.
   7. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Collin County, Texas.
   8. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Logan County, West Virginia.
   9. countableuncountableA town in Bayfield County, Wisconsin.
   10. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in the town of Clearfield, Juneau County, Wisconsin.
   11. countableuncountableA census-designated place in Teton County, Wyoming.
   12. countableuncountableA small village and civil parish (without a council) in West Devon district, Devon, England (OS grid ref SX3981).
   13. countableuncountableA locality on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, Australia.

alternative Kelley · alternative Kelli · alternative Kellie

1. Kelly green.

   ([…] something special in Kelly or red), whose narrow shawl collar has a slight V in back and knots at the throat in front.

   1949 November 19, The New Yorker, volume 25, page 88

   1 more example

   […] red or Kelly, with curved yoke and collar; and garments in skipper, pink, red, black or gray, with covered buttons on a yoked back.

   1949, Industrial Council of Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers, inc, Current Bulletin