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 large knife, such as a butcher's knife

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gully ² 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 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

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

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

As Pakistan number three Shan Masood poked, Brook, who has shown himself a canny tactician as white-ball captain, suggested a reinforced gully region.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 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

Santner ducked into a Stokes short ball and was given out, caught at gully.

From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026

Kim said Rinderknecht’s phone first pinged in a small gully near where they believe the fire originated.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

My magic river was just a drainage gully.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

Hick said Syston residents could also do their bit by cleaning their gullies and drains now and again in autumn when leaves begin to drop and consider flood barriers, sandbags and tarpaulins for their properties.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

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

“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

As Hilary bore down, torrents of water rushed through the park, forging new gullies, displacing heavy rocks and undercutting park roads.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2023

Not these knife-sharp crags and gaping gullies, these icicles taller than trees.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

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

Into the wooded, gullied fields around Polly Ray Mountain at Fort Bragg, N.C., 18,000 troops of the Ninth Division moved for maneuvers.

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

Today, like Scafarella's peasants, they too break arid, gullied soil with picks.

From Time Magazine Archive

The buggy rolled between gullied slopes of red clay.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

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

Related Words

• chasm
• crevasse
• culvert
• trench