gillie

or gil·ly

[gil-ee]

noun

Scot.

a hunting or fishing guide.
a male attendant or personal servant to a Highland chieftain.

ghillie.

Origin of gillie

First recorded in 1590–1600, gillie is from the Scots Gaelic word gille lad, servant

gilly

[gil-ee]

noun, plural gil·lies. Scot.

gillie.

gilly

[gil-ee]

noun, plural gil·lies.

a truck or wagon, especially one used to transport the equipment of a circus or carnival.

verb (used with or without object), gil·lied, gil·ly·ing.

to carry or be carried on a gilly.

Origin of gilly

gill (dial.) < ? + -y²

ghillie

or gil·lie

[gil-ee]

noun

a low-cut, tongueless shoe with loops instead of eyelets for the laces, which cross the instep and are sometimes tied around the ankle.

Origin of ghillie

1590–1600; see gillie; apparently a type of shoe orig. worn by Scottish hunting guides

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for gillies

van, car, cart, carriage, caravan, chariot, lorry, festival, spectacle, coach, tram, buggy, dray, caisson, schooner, wain, buckboard, camion, tumbril, barouche

Examples from the Web for gillies

Contemporary Examples of gillies

Gillies is a born-memoirist, both candid and hilarious, and her heartbreak and struggle for love is our gain.
Last-Chance Summer Reads
Carolyn Sun
August 7, 2011
“I just want to do what I love and if fame comes along with that so be it,” Gillies said.
A Tween Star Does Lennon
Jaimie Etkin
April 21, 2010

Historical Examples of gillies

From the jargon, therefore, of the Highland gillies, I pass to the character of their Chief.
Waverley
Sir Walter Scott
Dr. Gillies says where the Diamante joins it, it is called the Salado.
Buenos Ayres and the Provinces of the Rio de La Plata
Woodbine Parish
"I won't live such a life as this," said little Gillies, in a pet.
It Is Never Too Late to Mend
Charles Reade
Myrmidons at your tents, ant-born, or only a mob on the Gillies Hill?
Arrows of the Chace, v. 2
John Ruskin
Let us back to the camp, and send our gillies for the venison.
The Fair Maid of Perth
Sir Walter Scott

British Dictionary definitions for gillies

ghillie

noun

a type of tongueless shoe with lacing up the instep, originally worn by the Scots

a variant spelling of gillie

Word Origin for ghillie

from Scottish Gaelic gille boy

gillie

ghillie or gilly

noun plural -lies Scot

an attendant or guide for hunting or fishing

(formerly) a Highland chieftain's male attendant or personal servant

Word Origin for gillie

C17: from Scottish Gaelic gille boy, servant

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