dolly

¹ American  

[dol-ee] / ˈdɒl i /

noun

PLURAL

dollies

1. Informal.  a doll.

2. a low truck or cart with small wheels for moving loads too heavy to be carried by hand.

3. Movies, Television.  a small wheeled platform, usually having a short boom, on which a camera can be mounted for making moving shots.

4. Machinery.  a tool for receiving and holding the head of a rivet while the other end is being headed.

5. a block placed on the head of a pile being driven to receive the shock of the blows.

6. a small locomotive operating on narrow-gauge tracks, especially in quarries, construction sites, etc.

7. a short, wooden pole with a hollow dishlike base for stirring clothes while laundering them.

8. Slang.  a tablet of Dolophine.

9. Also called dolly bird.  British Informal.  an attractive girl or young woman.

10. (sometimes initial capital letter)  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).

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verb (used with object)

dollied, dollying

1. to transport or convey (a camera) by means of a dolly.

verb (used without object)

dollied, dollying

1. to move a camera on a dolly, especially toward or away from the subject being filmed or televised (often followed by in orout ).

   to dolly in for a close-up.

Dolly ² American  

[dol-ee] / ˈdɒl i /

Or Dollie

noun

1. a female given name, form of Doll.

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dolly British  

/ ˈdɒlɪ /

noun

1. a child's word for a doll

2. films television a wheeled support on which a camera may be mounted

3. a cup-shaped anvil held against the head of a rivet while the other end is being hammered

4. a shaped block of lead used to hammer dents out of sheet metal

5. a distance piece placed between the head of a pile and the pile-driver to form an extension to the length of the pile

6. cricket a simple catch

7. Also called: dolly bird.  slang  an attractive and fashionable girl, esp one who is considered to be unintelligent

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verb

1. films television to wheel (a camera) backwards or forwards on a dolly

Dolly Cultural  

1. 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.)

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Etymology

Origin of dolly

1600–10; 1900–05 dolly for def. 9; doll + -y ²

Example Sentences

This means he ensures the director feels comfortable with the gaffer, the dolly grip, the key grip, so that there’s no one on set that feels like a stranger.

From Los Angeles Times

“He likes to bring movement and accident to something that wouldn’t have them if shot on a tripod or dolly.”

From Los Angeles Times

He said he used a tow dolly to pick up cars and haul them to salvage yards to make some money as he tried to rebuild.

From Los Angeles Times

Empty dollies and carts stood near two employees who readied books for delivery.

From Los Angeles Times

Another witness, dolly grip Ross Addiego, testified earlier in the week that he, too, was in the church on the fateful afternoon.

From Los Angeles Times