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Synonyms

telly

American  
[tel-ee] / ˈtɛl i /

noun

British Informal.

plural

tellies

  1. television.

  2. a television receiving set.

telly British  
/ ˈtɛlɪ /

noun

  1. informal short for television

"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

Etymology

Origin of telly

First recorded in 1935–40; tel(evision) + -y 2

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"I've been on telly for 25 years, I must have been awful!"

From BBC

And the “Antiques Roadshow” version of the lottery—the old picture over the family telly that might be worth $200 million.

From The Wall Street Journal

Visually, it's lots of fun, with new camera angles which better reflect how football plays out on the telly.

From BBC

"Suddenly you cry on the telly in front of 10 million people, you feel a lot more open."

From BBC

Kemp also recounted how someone in a pub recently told him he looked "a lot fatter on telly".

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.