Crossword clues for silly
silly
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Silly \Sil"ly\, a. [Compar. Sillier; superl. Silliest.] [OE. seely, sely, AS. s?lig, ges?lig, happy, good, fr. s?l, s?l, good, happy, s?l good fortune, happines; akin to OS. s[=a]lig, a, good, happy, D. zalig blessed, G. selig, OHG. s[=a]l[=i]g, Icel. s?l, Sw. s["a]ll, Dan. salig, Goth. s?ls good, kind, and perh. also to L. sollus whole, entire, Gr. ???, Skr. sarva. Cf. Seel, n.]
Happy; fortunate; blessed. [Obs.]
--Chaucer.-
Harmless; innocent; inoffensive. [Obs.] ``This silly, innocent Custance.''
--Chaucer.The silly virgin strove him to withstand.
--Spenser.A silly, innocent hare murdered of a dog.
--Robynson (More's Utopia). -
Weak; helpless; frail. [Obs.]
After long storms . . . With which my silly bark was tossed sore.
--Spenser.The silly buckets on the deck.
--Coleridge. -
Rustic; plain; simple; humble. [Obs.]
A fourth man, in a sillyhabit.
--Shak.All that did their silly thoughts so busy keep.
--Milton. Weak in intellect; destitute of ordinary strength of mind; foolish; witless; simple; as, a silly woman.
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Proceeding from want of understanding or common judgment; characterized by weakness or folly; unwise; absurd; stupid; as, silly conduct; a silly question.
Syn: Simple; brainless; witless; shallow; foolish; unwise; indiscreet. See Simple.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Old English gesælig "happy, fortuitous, prosperous" (related to sæl "happiness"), from Proto-Germanic *sæligas (cognates: Old Norse sæll "happy," Old Saxon salig, Middle Dutch salich, Old High German salig, German selig "blessed, happy, blissful," Gothic sels "good, kindhearted"), from PIE *sele- "of good mood; to favor," from root *sel- (2) "happy, of good mood; to favor" (cognates: Latin solari "to comfort," Greek hilaros "cheerful, gay, merry, joyous").\n\nThis is one of the few instances in which an original long e (ee) has become shortened to i. The same change occurs in breeches, and in the American pronunciation of been, with no change in spelling.
[Century Dictionary]
\nThe word's considerable sense development moved from "happy" to "blessed" to "pious," to "innocent" (c.1200), to "harmless," to "pitiable" (late 13c.), "weak" (c.1300), to "feeble in mind, lacking in reason, foolish" (1570s). Further tendency toward "stunned, dazed as by a blow" (1886) in knocked silly, etc. Silly season in journalism slang is from 1861 (August and September, when newspapers compensate for a lack of hard news by filling up with trivial stories). Silly Putty trademark claims use from July 1949.Wiktionary
a. 1 (label en archaic) pitiable; deserving of compassion; helpless. 2 (label en obsolete) simple, unsophisticated, ordinary; rustic, ignorant. 3 foolish, showing a lack of good sense and wisdom; frivolous, trifling. 4 irresponsible, showing irresponsible behaviors. 5 semiconscious, witless. 6 (label en cricket) Of a fielding position, very close to the batsman; closer than short. 7 (label en pejorative) simple, not intelligent, unrefined. n. 1 (context colloquial English) A silly person; a fool. 2 (context colloquial English) A mistake.
WordNet
adj. pungent adjectives of disesteem; "gave me a cockamamie reason for not going"; "wore a goofy hat"; "a silly idea"; "some wacky plan for selling more books" [syn: cockamamie, cockamamy, goofy, sappy, wacky, whacky, zany, unreasonable]
lacking seriousness; given to frivolity; "a dizzy blonde"; "light-headed teenagers"; "silly giggles" [syn: airheaded, dizzy, empty-headed, featherbrained, giddy, light-headed, lightheaded]
inspiring scornful pity; "how silly an ardent and unsuccessful wooer can be especially if he is getting on in years"- Dashiell Hammett [syn: pathetic, ridiculous]
dazed from or as if from repeated blows; "knocked silly by the impact"; "slaphappy with exhaustion" [syn: punch-drunk, slaphappy]
n. a word used for misbehaving children; "don't be a silly"
Wikipedia
' Silly' may refer to:
Silly is a German rock band. Founded in East Germany in 1978, Silly was one of the country's most popular music acts, and was well known for its charismatic lead singer Tamara Danz. Her death in 1996 ended the band's recording career after 18 years. In 2005 the surviving members began to perform as Silly again, first with several guest singers, before choosing actress Anna Loos to replace Danz. The first album with the new line-up, Alles Rot, became the band's most successful to date, reaching number 3 on the German charts in 2010.
"Silly" is a song written by Fritz Baskett, Clarence McDonald and Deniece Williams and performed by Williams. The soulful ballad was released off Williams' My Melody album in 1981 and became the most successful track off the album reaching as high as number fifty-three on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming an even bigger success on the R&B chart where it peaked at number-eleven. It has since gone on to become one of Williams' most requested songs over a career that has spanned over thirty years. The song featured production by Williams and respected Philly soul producer Thom Bell. The song was recorded at Philadelphia's acclaimed Sigma Sound Studios. The song would be later covered by singer Taral Hicks nearly two decades later in 1997 and was released as the second single off Hicks' debut album becoming a hit on the R&B chart.
One of Williams' influences, Patti LaBelle, later recorded the song for her 2005 album, Classic Moments. Singer Monica later sampled the instrumental intro and bridge of the song for her number-one R&B hit, " Everything to Me" and also interpolated Williams' ending high notes at the end of the song. Monica and Williams sang "Everything to Me" and "Silly" respectively together at the BET Awards in 2010. The-Dream also sampled the song for his song "Silly", which featured Casha, on his free mixtape 1977.
Usage examples of "silly".
And do you also know that had your egocentric, blind lead wizard not been so protective of his silly secret of the training of young females in the craft, you could have easily stopped me from accomplishing all that I have?
Rose yawned, talked fitfully about the gayeties of the coming week, worked half a leaf on an antimacassar, and sang three or four silly little coquettish songs which somehow jarred on every one.
I said a silly thing when I said we would do what Barish would have done.
They boast and shout and sing and drink themselves silly and naturally they generally get to basting the girls as well.
In addition to all this they were without honor as Sir Bulland knew it, and perhaps as any one other than a Beduin knows it, and would but have laughed at his silly suggestion.
Hope devotes so much serious and sympathetic study to the man called Tristram of Blent, a man who throughout burning boyhood thought of nothing but a silly old estate, we feel even in Mr.
Not for the first time, she wished she did not have to wear the silly thingbut she was not the kind of wild and rebellious woman who would shed her skirts and corsets for a vest and bloomers, and stride off to march in a suffragette parade.
A perfect carpet of it is at our feet, and the brooklet makes the sweetest murmuring as it glides onward through the grove, telling all the while, like some silly schoolgirl, where you may look for it.
To have risked the life of himself and his groom, not to mention the lives of two prime pieces of horseflesh to rescue a silly girl who did not need rescuing, was enough to try the patience of a saint.
He despised the way Americans felt the need to attach silly macho schoolboy nicknames to their leaders.
It seemed silly that the natives should exist in huts, raising only a milpa, or small patch of corn cleared in the native jungle, and giving that no more cultivation than it required, and rarely doing anything else in the line of work except gather a few thick maguey leaves to repair a hut after wind blew the thatching away.
If what are miscalled the lower animals were as silly as man is, they would all perish from the earth in a year.
It was a point of view to which Roland still held, Eddie felt quite sure, notwithstanding the fact that, while riding Blaine the Mono, their lives had been saved by a few well-timed silly questions.
Syntactic programs ranging from the deeply esoteric to the plain silly had been employed, but they had not come close to cracking one word or a hint of a morpheme, of what was now being called The Gabble.
When the doctor palpated and pressed his abdomen, he made a scornful grimace, as though finding all this silly and useless.