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

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 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

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

Jofra Archer was again impressive, first having Henry Nicholls edge to slip for 121, then being brought back into the attack to have Glenn Phillips held at gully.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026

Baker's first wicket, Rachin Ravindra edging to gully, came in his seventh over.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

The nail was stuck in a fragment of board that had once been part of a large animal’s house, and the fragment of board was embedded in a gully full of gravel.

From "Abel's Island" by William Steig

"Rising water levels in rivers, gullies, and swamps could cause crocodiles to move into residential areas," the South East Regional Health Authority said in a statement.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2025

"But the gullies from this research looked different," she explains.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2025

Its gently rolling hills are blanketed with low-growing mesquite and shrubs intersected by small gullies and streams, and many of its small, sleepy towns seem plucked from old Westerns.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 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

It had rained the night before, and the only sound was the gurgle of the runoff pouring down through the eroded gullies on the hillside.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

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

And the uncontrolled Mississippi floods to the delta, carrying the topsoil of the valley with it, leaving gullied hills, scalped plains.

From Time Magazine Archive

Instead of gullied hillsides and slopes ... it would show terraces; alternations of tilled land and grasslands; new forests springing up in belts and patches.

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

It was hard to believe this hillside had ever been the gullied wreck Joel had described at dinner.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

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 Owen, R. Emmett (Robert Emmett)

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 Goodrich, Charles Landon

Related Words

• chasm
• crevasse
• culvert
• trench