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dilly

American

[dil-ee] / ˈdɪl i /

noun

Informal.

plural

dillies

something or someone regarded as remarkable, unusual, etc..

a dilly of a movie.

dilly ¹ British

/ ˈdɪlɪ /

noun

slang a person or thing that is remarkable

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

dilly ² British

/ ˈdɪlɪ /

adjective

slang silly

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of dilly

An Americanism first recorded in 1905–10; it was at first an adjective: “wonderful,” apparently a shortening of delicious, with -y ¹ (now taken as -y ² )

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.

How many children were left without a safety net in the time we dilly dallied and worried about tech bosses?

From BBC • May 12, 2026

Or with a dilly dipping sauce if you're fancy!

From Salon • Jul. 18, 2023

Bud Light's "dilly dilly" cheer that has popped up everywhere in the past year, from Super Bowl commercials to Ben Roethlisberger play calls to Vegas sportsbooks.

From Golf Digest • Apr. 4, 2018

And there’s more: kitschy vinyl tablecloths, pressed tin ceilings, live music nightly, house-pickled ramps and dilly beans, creative cocktails and plenty of vegetarian options.

From Washington Post • Jul. 5, 2017

First of all, you couldn’t get much sap out of a single sapodilla tree, so we had to crisscross town, scouring streets for dilly trees.

From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023