roly-poly
Americanadjective
noun
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a roly-poly person or thing.
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Chiefly British. a sheet of biscuit dough spread with jam, fruit, or the like, rolled up and steamed or baked.
adjective
noun
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a strip of suet pastry spread with jam, fruit, or a savoury mixture, rolled up, and baked or steamed as a pudding
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a plump, buxom, or rotund person
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an informal name for tumbleweed
Etymology
Origin of roly-poly
1595–1605; earlier rowle powle, rowly-powly worthless fellow, game involving rolling balls, rhyming compound based on roll (v.); for second element cf. poll 1
Explanation
Someone who's roly-poly is small and round. Your fat little Corgi puppy is extra adorable because she's so roly-poly. A chubby baby, with dimpled elbows and fat little legs, could be described as roly-poly. When you use this word as a noun for a plump person, it's especially derogatory, but the baby bears at the zoo won't mind being called roly-polies. When someone talks about a roly-poly bug, they mean a pill millipede or a woodlouse, a small insect that can protectively roll itself into a ball.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"I hope Roly-Poly isn't making any more trouble as he did with the fly paper," said Mr. Blake as he walked toward the fence.
From Daddy Takes Us to the Garden The Daddy Series for Little Folks by Garis, Howard Roger
With him was Roly-Poly, looking half drowned, but also clean.
From Daddy Takes Us to the Garden The Daddy Series for Little Folks by Garis, Howard Roger
"Bow-wow!" barked Roly-Poly, which might mean "no" or "yes," just as you happened to listen to his bark.
From Daddy Takes Us to the Garden The Daddy Series for Little Folks by Garis, Howard Roger
Roly-Poly gets up in the morning,— Morning, quoth I? it's the crack of the dawn!—
From The Nursery, No. 106, October, 1875. Vol. XVIII. A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers by Various
"There's Roly-Poly in trouble again!" called Mr. Blake.
From Daddy Takes Us to the Garden The Daddy Series for Little Folks by Garis, Howard Roger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
