Definition of "silly"

Laughable or amusing through foolishness or a foolish appearance.  quotations

1. (of numbers, particularly prices) Absurdly large.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • He cannot achieve celebrity by covering himself with diamonds... or by giving a silly price for a hack.

     1875 June 26, Saturday Review, 815/2

(chiefly Scotland, obsolete) Blessed, particularly:

1. Good; pious.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The sylyman lay and herde,And hys wyf answerd.

     a. 1450, Seven Sages, line 1361

   • The King of Spaine is counted very ſtrong, and the Pope is counted very ſtrong, because they haue a ſtrong hand to perſecute the ſilly ones of leſus Chriſt.

     c. 1600, Robert Rollo[c]k, chapter I, in Lectvres Vpon The Epistle Of Pavl To The Colossians‎, London: Felix Kyngston, page 27

2. Holy.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • ... thrie Saturdayes befor Lambas and thrie efter called the six silie Saturdayes.

     1650 in 1885, W. Cramond, Church of Rathven, 21

(now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, rare) Pitiful, inspiring compassion, particularly:  quotations

1. (now literary) Innocent; suffering undeservedly, especially as an epithet of lambs and sheep.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • There is no best in þe word, I wene...That suffuris halfe so myche teneAs doth þe sylly wat.

     a. 1475, in 1925, Rossell Hope Robbins, Secular Lyrics of the 14th & 15th Centuries, 109

   • In the silly lambis skin He crap als far as he micht win.

     a. 1513, William Dunbar, Poems, section 247

2. (now literary) Helpless, defenseless.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Wherfore Christe must soo moche the more instantelye be sought vpon, that he may vouchsafe to defende vs sylly wretches.

     1539, Juan Luis Vives, translated by Richard Morison, Introduction to Wysedome

   • 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, […]

     c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)

   • There remained fresh Examples of their Barbarism against weak Sea-men, and silly Fisher-men.

     1665, Hugo Grotius, translated by Thomas Manley, De Rebus Belgicis, section 938

3. (chiefly Scotland) especially with regard to land quality.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Ane sillie scheill vnder ane erdfast stane

     a. 1500, Aesop, translated by Robert Henryson, Two Mice

   • […] A pettigreeOf threescore and two yeares a sillie time,To make prescription for a kingdomes worth.

     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, [Act III, scene iii], line 93

   • It is naturally very poor, ‘silly’ land.

     1907, Transactions of the Highland & Agricultural Society, 19, 172

4. Weak, frail; flimsy (use concerning people and animals is now obsolete).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Here we see that a smal sillie Bird knoweth how to match with so great a Beast.

     1567, John Maplet, A Greene Forest

   • [Christ] leaueth neither Children nor kinsfolke behind him to vphold his sillie kingdome.

     1587, Philippe de Mornay, translated by Philip Sidney et al., A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion, xxxii, 596

   • That'll never grow. It's ower silly.

     1946, Scottish National Dictionary, published 1971, Vol. VIII, 234/3

5. Sickly; feeble; infirm.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • To doe the thing we canTo please...This silly sickly man.

     1636, Alexander Montgomerie, The Cherrie & the Slae, line 1512

   • Is there ony thing you would particularly fancy, as your health seems but silly?

     1818, Heart of Mid-Lothian, Walter Scott, section V

(now rustic UK, rare) Simple, plain, particularly:

1. Rustic, homely.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Dauid had no more but a sylie slynge, and a few stones.

     1570, John Foxe, Actes & Monumentes, Vol. II, 926/1

2. (obsolete) Lowly, of humble station.  quotations

   Quotations

   • The silly herdman all astonnied standes.

     a. 1547, the Earl of Surrey translating Publius Virgilius Maro, Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aeneis, Book II

   • So luvaris lair no leid suld lak,A lord to lufe a silly lass.

     1568, Alexander Scott, Poems, section 27

Mentally simple, foolish, particularly:

1. (obsolete) Rustic, uneducated, unlearned.  quotations

   Quotations

   • From Hell (of which the silly people of the Country think the top of this hill to be the mouth).

     1687, Jean de Thévenot, translated by Archibald Lovell, The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the Levant, i, 2

2. Thoughtless, lacking judgment.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Wee sillie soules, take the matter too too heauily.

     1576, Abraham Fleming translating Sulpicius, A Panoplie of Epistles, 24

   • ‘Heaven help this silly fellow,’ murmured the perplexed locksmith.

     1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge, iii, 252

   • Steve, don't be silly. I mean social intercourse.

     1972, George Lucas et al., American Graffiti, section 8

   • The truth is that everyone is sillier than you could possibly imagine they'd be.

     1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 3

3. (Scotland) Mentally retarded.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Fow ȝellow ȝellow wes hir heid bot scho of lufe wes sillie.

     1568, Christis Kirk on Grene

   • Davie's no just like other folk... but he's no sae silly as folk tak him for.

     1814, Waverley, Walter Scott, III, xvi, 237

4. Stupefied, senseless; stunned or dazed.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • You say you were knocked silly—was that so?

     1829 January 17, Lancaster Gazette

   • Drinking myself silly...

     1907, John Millington Synge, Playboy of the Western World, iii, 64

   • Well, Judy, now that you've scared me silly, what's so important?

     1942, J. Chodorov et al., Junior Miss, ii, i, 113

   • I can kick this stuff any time I like. I tell you what. Get this week over, we'll go to a health farm for ten days. No drugs. No drink. And shag ourselves silly. How about that?

     1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 2

(cricket, of a fielding position) Very close to the batsman, facing the bowler; closer than short.  quotations  examples

(now regional or colloquial) Sillily: in a silly manner.  quotations  examples

(colloquial) A silly person.  quotations  examples

(endearing, gently derogatory) A term of address.  quotations  examples

(colloquial) A mistake.  examples