gully

¹ American  

[guhl-ee] / ˈgʌl i /

noun

• gullies
  plural

1. a small valley or ravine originally worn away by running water and serving as a drainageway after prolonged heavy rains.

   Synonyms:

   watercourse, defile, gorge, gulch

2. a ditch or gutter.

3. Cricket.

   1. the position of a fielder between point and slips.

   2. the fielder occupying this position.

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verb (used with object)

gullied, gullying

1. to make gullies in.

2. to form (channels) by the action of water.

adjective

1. Slang. of or relating to the environment, culture, or life experience in poor urban neighborhoods; vulgar, raw, or authentic; ghetto: Keepin’ it gully, for real!

   Does your mama know what you’re up to on these gully street corners all night?

   Keepin’ it gully, for real!

gully ² American  

[guhl-ee, gool-ee] / ˈgʌl i, ˈgʊl i /

Or gulley

noun

Scot. and North England.

• gullies
  plural

1. a knife, especially a large kitchen or butcher knife.

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gully ¹ British  

/ ˈɡʌlɪ /

noun

1. a channel or small valley, esp one cut by heavy rainwater

2. a small bush-clad valley

3. a deep, wide fissure between two buttresses in a mountain face, sometimes containing a stream or scree

4. cricket

   1. a fielding position between the slips and point

   2. a fielder in this position

5. either of the two channels at the side of a tenpin bowling lane

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verb

1. (tr) to make (channels) in (the ground, sand, etc)

gully ² British  

/ ˈɡʌlɪ /

noun

1. a large knife, such as a butcher's knife

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gully Scientific  

/ gŭl′ē /

1. A narrow, steep-sided channel formed in loose earth by running water. A gully is usually dry except after periods of heavy rainfall or after the melting of snow or ice.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• gullies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of gully¹

First recorded in 1530–40; apparently a variant of gullet, with -y replacing French -et

Origin of gully²

First recorded in 1575–85; origin uncertain

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Explanation

A gully is a deep valley that's formed by water that runs across land and wears it away. Most gullies form along hillsides. When a stream or runoff from a heavy rainfall erodes the land and forms a ravine or ditch, the result is a gully. The origin of the word is unclear, but it may come from the Middle English golet, "water channel." If you hear someone use the somewhat old fashioned term "gully washer," they're talking about a torrential rain storm — one that's heavy enough to form a gully.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gully gullies gullied gullying

O’Brien said cellphone location records placed him in a brush-filled gully about 20 feet from where investigators determined the fire began.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

Tuesday a California National Guard plane spotted an “anomaly” near the bottom of an east-facing gully off the summit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

As he approached the Alligator Hole swimming area, his vehicle slid off the road and became stuck on a mound of dirt 60 feet above a gully near Big Chico Creek, witnesses said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

But Mitchell and Blundell reprised the partnership that was so successful for the Black Caps here four years ago, helped by Mitchell being put down at leg gully at Cox off Fisher.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

I was trying to skootch myself up to the bank of the gully to get into a more comfortable position when I heard a sound over my head.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen

Earth scientist Dr. Lonneke Roelofs of Utrecht University set out to study the origin of mysterious gullies carved into Martian dunes.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025

People without driveways will be able to have charge points fitted using "cross-pavement gullies" paid for with £25m allocated to councils, she told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2025

We climbed up into the hills, over rocks and gullies, until a valley opened out below us.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2024

“Access couloirs that used to last deep into August are falling apart,” Volken added, describing the steep, narrow gullies that climbers often must ascend.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 4, 2023

There were gullies full of shrubs, and Lina and Doon crawled among the leaves and prickly branches, but found no openings.

From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau

If peaches were touted as a cure for Georgia’s “sorry, washed-out anemic gullied hillsides” at the fin de siècle, than kudzu was seen as the panacea after the Great Depression.

From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2021

Down the gullied road is a raw-concrete school or a new co-op store of fresh pine.

From Time Magazine Archive

Tito's face has changed too: his features, once deeply gullied, have become smoother with well being.

From Time Magazine Archive

Behind he left a widow, two former wives, three children, a host of disgruntled backers and oil royalty rights on 2,538 gullied, sun-scorched acres in California's Kettleman hills.

From Time Magazine Archive

The land was gullied and eroded and barren.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

There it had crumbled the brink of the Head away, the water gullying year after year a deeper and broader channel, until now the slanting gutter began a hundred yards back from the brink.

From Sheila of Big Wreck Cove A Story of Cape Cod by R. Emmett (Robert Emmett) Owen

Removing the free water enables the soil to absorb more readily rain water falling on the surface and therefore checks surface wash and the gullying of fields.

From The First Book of Farming by Charles Landon Goodrich

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Related Words

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• crevasse
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