dolly
Informal. a doll.
a low truck or cart with small wheels for moving loads too heavy to be carried by hand.
Movies, Television. a small wheeled platform, usually having a short boom, on which a camera can be mounted for making moving shots.
Machinery. a tool for receiving and holding the head of a rivet while the other end is being headed.
a block placed on the head of a pile being driven to receive the shock of the blows.
a small locomotive operating on narrow-gauge tracks, especially in quarries, construction sites, etc.
a short, wooden pole with a hollow dishlike base for stirring clothes while laundering them.
Slang. a tablet of Dolophine.
Also called dolly bird .British Informal. an attractive girl or young woman.
(sometimes initial capital letter)Slang. an affectionate or familiar term of address, as to a child or romantic partner (sometimes offensive when used to strangers, casual acquaintances, subordinates, etc., especially by a male to a female).
to transport or convey (a camera) by means of a dolly.
to move a camera on a dolly, especially toward or away from the subject being filmed or televised (often followed by in or out): to dolly in for a close-up.
Origin of dolly
1Words Nearby dolly
Other definitions for Dolly (2 of 2)
or Dol·lie
a female given name, form of Doll.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use dolly in a sentence
As I loaded up on dolly swag at one of the many gift shops, the sales attendant engaged me in a charming conversation.
Have vaccine, will travel: How a road trip served as a needed jolt from the blahs at home | Kate Silver | May 21, 2021 | Washington PostBack then the conversation swirled around a little sheep named dolly.
CRISPR gives us the power to short-circuit evolution. What now? | Dina Temple-Raston | May 21, 2021 | Washington PostBefore dolly, the thought of cloning a mammal was the stuff of science fiction, but — fast-forward 25 years — it wasn’t the feasibility of genome editing that was in question before He decided to edit human embryos.
CRISPR gives us the power to short-circuit evolution. What now? | Dina Temple-Raston | May 21, 2021 | Washington PostIn one incident, a worker missed 119 days of work after being caught between a container and dolly.
A Temp Worker Died on the Job After FedEx Didn’t Fix a Known Hazard. The Fine: $7,000. | by Wendi C. Thomas, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism | December 23, 2020 | ProPublica“Songteller” hits its stride when it gets to ’70s crossover pop star dolly.
‘Dolly Parton, Songteller’ is a gold mine of little-seen photos and personal anecdotes | Allison Stewart | November 30, 2020 | Washington Post
Next came dolly, after a big sorrel mare; and Paul, after a freckled pinto; and so on down the line.
When I credit her for discovering Jennifer Lawrence in casting her as Ree dolly, she smiles bashfully, before backpedaling a bit.
Life After ‘Winter’s Bone’: Debra Granik on Finding J. Law and the Plight of the Female Director | Marlow Stern | October 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSo Sinatra simply chartered dolly her own Learjet for the twenty-minute flight to Las Vegas.
"It is hot and it is ready," says Bernice Michaud, who has been waitressing at dolly's for over a quarter century.
On the Canadian Border, It's Pancakes for Every Meal | Jane & Michael Stern | July 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTdolly Parton, although rumored to be heterosexual, certainly has a big place in the gay world.
Is Gay Singer Steve Grand Really Country Music’s Frank Ocean? | Hugh Ryan | March 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTGilbert was not at all satisfied with the promise dolly had given to his father; he thought himself slighted and ill-used.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieI would rather go to church with dolly in homespun, than ride in a carriage beside that shrivelled piece of tanned leather.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieThis last remark recalled poor dolly's grief, and she fell to crying worse than before.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieYou had better go to him, dolly, and bid him good bye, before he takes the team to the field.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieAnd the team moved on, and poor dolly, more ashamed of her errand than ever, went into the house.
The World Before Them | Susanna Moodie
British Dictionary definitions for dolly
/ (ˈdɒlɪ) /
a child's word for a doll
films television a wheeled support on which a camera may be mounted
a cup-shaped anvil held against the head of a rivet while the other end is being hammered
a shaped block of lead used to hammer dents out of sheet metal
a distance piece placed between the head of a pile and the pile-driver to form an extension to the length of the pile
cricket a simple catch
Also called: dolly bird slang, mainly British an attractive and fashionable girl, esp one who is considered to be unintelligent
films television to wheel (a camera) backwards or forwards on a dolly
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
Cultural definitions for Dolly
The first mammal successfully cloned — Dolly, a sheep — was born in 1996 in Scotland as the result of work by biologist Ian Wilmut (see clone). The procedure that produced Dolly involved removing the nucleus from an egg cell and placing the nucleus of an adult sheep's mammary cell into it. Further manipulations caused the egg to “turn on” all genes and develop like a normal zygote. (See totipotency.)
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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