▪ I. willy, willey, n.1
(ˈwɪlɪ)
Forms: 1 wiliᵹe, wyliᵹe, -ie, 7, 9 weely, 8–9 willey, 9 willy.
[OE. wiliᵹe: see willow n. Cf. wyle, wile, weel2.]
1. A basket: see quots. dial.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. ix. (Z.) 55 Corbis, wyliᵹe oððe windel. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark vi. 43 Hi namon þara hlafa & fixa lafe twelf wilian fulle. a 1100 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 336/7 Corbis uel cofinus, wyliᵹe oððe meoxbearwe. [1256, etc.: see weel2. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxvi. (Add. MS. 27944), Of russhes beþ ymade panyers: Wiles, cupes and casis.] 1825 Jennings Obs. Dial. W. Eng., Willy, a term applied to baskets of various sizes, but generally to those holding about a bushel..: sometimes called also willy⁓basket. 1886 W. Som. Word-bk., Willy, a large basket—of a shape deep rather than flat... A willy has two small handles at the upper edge, one opposite the other. |
2. A fish-trap. local.
| [1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. i. (Add. MS. 27944), For fleissh yrosted crabbes comeþ in to wyles and pyches.] 1602 Carew Cornwall i. 28 The Trowte..are mostly taken with a hooke-net, made like the Easterne Weelyes, which is placed in the stickellest part of the stream..and kept abroad with certaine hoopes. 1813 Vancouver Agric. Devon 320 Below the lower flood-hatch, a trap (or willey, as in this neighbourhood it is called) is made for the catching of smaller fish. 1880 W. Cornw. Gloss., Weelys, wicker pots or traps for catching crabs. |
3. A revolving machine of a conical or cylindrical shape armed internally with spikes for opening and cleaning wool, cotton, flax. Called also twilly.
| [1780: see willy v. quot. 1864]. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 160 The wool-mill or willy (called willow, in the cotton manufacture..) is the first machine to which clothing-wool is subjected. 1870 Engl. Mech. 31 Dec. 610/1 The machine..is called a willow, or willey, vulgarly a devil; it is used principally for opening raw cotton. 1894 C. Vickerman Woollen Spinning 122 A ‘Fearnought’ or tenter-hook willey. |
Hence ˈwill(e)y v., to treat with the willy or willowing-machine; ˈwill(e)yer, one who tends a willy; ˈwill(e)ying vbl. n. (also attrib.).
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 204 Wool-sorters, pickers, willyers (winnowers). 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. iii. 98 Some kinds of wool require willying more than once. 1864 A. Jeffrey Hist. Roxb. IV. 115 In 1780, when a small hand ‘willy’, for oiling and teazing the wool, was put up in the garret of John Roberts. It was a joint stock adventure, and willied for the whole town. 1871 Daily News 18 Aug., Cloth finishers, dressers, fettlers, and willeyers. Ibid., The cotton willeying-room. 1884 W. S. B. M{supc}Laren Spinning (ed. 2) 185 The wool must be freed from all dirt, etc., by willeying and thorough washing, it must then be oiled and again willeyed to spread the oil over all the fibres. 1907 Clapham Woollen & Worsted Ind. 188 The willeying machine must also have an efficient exhaust draft. |
▪ II. willy, willie, n.2
(ˈwɪlɪ)
[Pet-form of the name William.]
1. Applied locally to various animals; e.g. the guillemot, = willock; also attrib., as in willy-goat, a he-goat (= billy-goat); willy-wagtail, (a) the water wagtail; (b) in Australia, = wagtail n. 2 b. (See also will-o'-the-wisp 1 ε.)
| 1849 Zoologist VII. 2393 The common guillemot is a ‘willy’. 1883 Sunday Mag. Aug. 528/1 Some birds flying..over the vessel..called willies. |
| 1852 W. Wickenden Hunchback's Chest 82 You might have broken the leg of the *willy-goat. |
| 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., *Wullie-Wagtail. 1885 Mrs. C. Praed Head Station (new ed.) 156 A brisk little willy-wagtail hopping about on the gravel. |
2. slang. An infantile name for the penis. Also Comb., as willy-warmer.
| 1905 Eng. Dial. Dict. Suppl. 178/2 Willy, the male organ; a slang name for a child's penis. Cum., Wm. 1972 Listener 22 June 841/3 The gallant soldier-boys are afflicted with ‘syph, darling’ (‘their willies rot away’). 1975 Observer 7 Dec. 27/3 Joky gifts are speechlessly embarrassing; this season's dud is a woolly willy-warmer. 1977 J. Wilson Making Hate ix. 113 A younger male [baboon]..fingered its crimson penis... ‘It's playing with its willie!’ Nicky squealed. 1985 P. Angadi Governess x. 93 We used to hold each other's willies... We didn't know about sex then. |
▪ III. willy, n.3
(ˈwɪlɪ)
[Prob. related to williwaw: cf. willy-willy.]
In the South Atlantic (Tristan da Cunha): (see quots.).
| 1832 A. Earle Narr. Residence N.Z. (1966) 204 These sudden squalls are called ‘Willies’, at least, such is the name given them by the sailors who frequent the island [sc. Tristan da Cunha]. 1941 A. B. Crawford I went to Tristan xi. 158 A shower is a ‘light squall’ and ‘willies’ are eddies of spray above the surface of the sea caused by small whirlwinds. Ibid. 268 Willie, whirlwind of spray over the sea. |
▪ IV. † ˈwilly, a. Obs.
Forms: 4–5 willi, wylly, (5 wille, wyle, wyly, 6 wylle), 4– willy.
[f. will n.1 + -y1, prob. after ON. viljugr (MSw. viliogher, Sw., Da. villig), corresp. to OS., (M)Du. willig, OHG. willîg (MHG. willec, G. willig). But an OE. *willic may have existed; cf. next.]
1. Willing, eager.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 23073 Þai..willi war to do, and gladd, Þat men of hali kirc þam badd. Ibid. 26351 Propre, stedfast, Ernexst, willi, buxum, sothfast. 13.. Gosp. Nicod. (G.) 161 Þe men þat wight and willy ware said: ‘to þi steuin we stand’. c 1440 Destr. Troy 1775 Wisest of wordes and wille þerto. c 1449 Pecock Repr. v. iii. 496 Forto make hem the redier and the willier forto counceyle with leerned men. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. i. vi. A vij b, A prynce ought not be byleued that therin shold be ouer wylly & courageous. |
2. Well-disposed, benevolent.
With first quot. cf. Chaucer's ‘welwilli planet’ (Troylus iii. 1208).
| c 1403 Lydg. Temple of Glas 1348 Willi planet, O Esperus so briȝt, Þat woful hertes can appese. 1449 Paston Lett. I. 88, I fonde her never so wylly to noon as sche is to hym. 1483 Cath. Angl. 418/2 Willy, beneuolus. |
3. ? Of the will.
| c 1400 tr. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh. 96 And þanne fallys to hym a reale willy [orig. uoluntaria] vertu. |
b. in parasynthetic compounds, evil-willy, goodwilly, ill-willy, well-willy.
Hence † ˈwillily adv., voluntarily, willingly.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 26942 Willili lok þat þou be scriuen, Noght wit strength þar-to be driuen. c 1400 Abbey Holy Ghost in Hampole's Wks. (Horstman) I. 334 Make þame arely to ryse and go þe wyllylyere to þaire seruysse. |
▪ V. † willy, adv. Obs.
Forms: 1 willice, 2–3 willeliche, 4 williche.
[Late OE. will{iacu}ce = OHG. willîco (MHG. willîche): see will n.1, -ly2. With the quadrisyllabic forms cf. ON. viljanliga.]
Willingly, voluntarily.
| c 1000 in Anglia XIII. 375/138 Oþre ᵹehwylce ða wyllice we onfengon. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 41 Ȝef ȝe lusten wuleð, and ȝe willeliche hit understonden. a 1225 Ancr. R. 338 Schrift ouh to beon willes, þet is willeliche iureined and nout idrawen of þe. Ibid. 396 Auh ure Louerd willeliche totweamde his soule urom his bodie vorto ueien ure boðe togederes. a 1300 in Horstmann Altengl. Leg. (1875) 8 Þo dronk Marie al hire fulle Swiþe williche of þat welle. |
▪ VI. willy
dial. f. willow; obs. form of wily.