▪ I. † ˈwally, a.1 Sc. Obs.
In 6 wallie.
[f. wall n.2 + -y.]
Of the sea: Tempestuous.
| 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. ii. xxxv, Throw countreis seir, hottis and roches hie, Ouir vailis, planis, woddis, wallie sey. 1721 Ramsay Poet's Wish ii, Wha to the Indian plain Successfu' ploughs the wally sea. |
▪ II. wally, waly, a.2, adv., and n.1 Sc.
(ˈwɔːlɪ)
Also walie, wallie, waulie, wawlie.
[Of obscure origin.]
A. adj. Used as an indefinite term of admiration: Handsome, fine; large, ample.
If quot. 1637–50 is correctly placed here the use is ironical.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxv. 45 Quod he..My kyd..My tendir gyrle, my wallie gowdye. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 431 In the beginning of March 1618, he said to his wife, ‘Spouse, this wallie March will make an end of all thir things:’ and so it was, for he deceased March 31. 1722 Ramsay Three Bonnets i. 83 She was a winsome Wench and waly, And cou'd put on her Claiths fu' brawly. 1739 A. Nicol Nature without Art 22 Ilk merry Look and wally Taste Gies Health unto the gamesome Jest. 1786 Burns To a Haggis vii, Clap in his walie nieve a blade, He'll mak it whissle. 1791 ― Tam o' Shanter 164 [echoes quot. 1722]. 1839 Whistle-binkie Ser. ii. 50 Auld Souter Rabby, that dresses sae brawly; Auld Barber Watty, sae smirky an' waly. 1896 Lumsden Poems 142 Our Wee Toun's wally offspring. |
† b. Comb. walliman (Orkney): see quot.
| 1629 Orkney Witch Trial in County Folk-Lore (1903) III. 103 The devill appeirit to you, Quhom ye called Walliman, claid in quhyt cloathis with ane quhyt head [etc.]. |
B. adv. Finely. † With impersonal vb. used optatively, wally fall, fair fall, good luck to.
| 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 2434 Iohne to the King. Gude day, gud day! Grit God saif baith ȝour graces! Wallie, wallie fall they twa weill-fairde faces! 1847 H. S. Riddell Poems 193 For a' gangs wally wi' them, Wha thus live in their native land, Wi' them that's dearest to them. |
C. n. ‘A toy, a gewgaw’ (Jam.).
| 1722 Ramsay Twa Cut-purses 4 Baith Lads and Lasses busked brawly, To glowr at ilka Bonny-waly. 1728 ― Poems II. 404 Gloss., Bonywalys, Toys, Gu-gaws. a 1774 Fergusson Hallowfair 29 Here chapman billies tak their stand, An' shaw their bonny wallies [rhyme fallows]. 1811 A. Scott Poems 96 What bonny lassies flock to Boswell's fair, To see their joes, an' shaw their wallies there! 1816 Scott Antiq. xxix, Glenallan House, wi' a' the pictures and black velvet and silver bonny-wawlies belanging to it. 1821 ― Pirate xviii, Bonny-wallies baith of silver and gowd. |
Senses A. a, b in Dict. become A. 1, 3. Add pronunc. (ˈwɑle).
2. Ornamental, fancy; hence (reinterpreting *wally dug, sense 3 below), made of china or porcelain, glazed.
| 1904 ‘H. Foulis’ Erchie ii. 11 Afore ye could say knife she had in a new grate wi' wally sides till't. 1965 T. E. Niven East Kilbride xvi. 153 Bowl Mary..travelled the countryside with a large basket containing all manner of ‘cheeny and wally articles’. a 1985 in A. Blair Tea at Miss Cranston's (1985) i. 4 We had an aspidistra on a green wally pedestal and veloury curtains hangin' from rings on a pole. Ibid. xvii. 144 There was a double wally sink. |
[3.] Restrict ‘† ’ to walliman. For Comb. read ‘Special collocations’ and add: wally close [close n.1 4 a], in Scotland (esp. Glasgow), an entrance passage in a tenement, with (usu. ornate) tiling on the walls, freq. regarded as a sign of higher social standing.
| 1908 H. Maclaine My Frien' 20 There was nae stairtin' life in *wally close tenements in ma young days. 1979 Glasgow Herald 12 May 8/8 In better-class tenements the lower part of the close wall was painted... Eventually, in the 1890s, this was replaced by an easily cleaned tiled dado, about 5ft. 3in. in height—creating the so-called wally close. 1982 Financial Times 9 Jan. 3/2 Hillhead is the posh bit of Glasgow north of the Clyde, where toffs live in wally closes and the ladies of Kelvinside are reputed to consider sex as something used to carry coal. |
wally dug (occas. do(u)g) [repr. local pronunc. of dog n.1], an ornamental china dog.
| 1904 ‘H. Foulis’ Erchie xxii. 142 *Wally dugs on the mantelpiece. 1924 Glasgow Herald 1 Jan. 5 The first article, wherein wallydogs are referred to as dabbities. 1932 W. D. Cocker Poems 151 The dresser, wi' its cheeny jugs, My ornaments, the waly dougs. 1990 Sunday Times 14 Oct. (Scotland section) 4/7 There was a brilliant photo of the wally dug peering over the top of a mound of refuse. |
▪ III. wally, n.2 (and a.3) slang.
(ˈwɒlɪ)
Also Wally.
[Origin uncertain: perh. the same word as wolly. Said by some to be the dim. of the personal name Walter: cf. Charley, Charlie 6. Cf. also wallydrag, wallydraigle.]
An unfashionable person; one who is foolish, inept, or ineffectual. Also as a mild term of abuse. Also attrib. or as adj.
| 1969 Daily Mirror 10 Oct. 19/1 Wally, out of fashion. 1974 Times 8 Aug. 2/4 The successors to the flat-earthers..are at present encamped on the perimeter of the great concentric stone circles... They choose to be known as the Wallies of Wessex, Wally being a conveniently anonymous umbrella for vulnerable individuals. 1976 Telegraph (Brisbane) 8 Oct. 10/4 The Arnolds call anybody who wears conventional clothes, such as jeans or skirts, a Wally. 1979 Listener 20 & 27 Dec. 861/1 Cuban heel boots..are..like a Wally uniform... John Travolta, the Bee-Gees and Boney M are considered Wally acts. 1983 Evening Star (Ipswich) 20 June 7/1 He shrugged off Ms. Ford's throw as temperamental but I bet he felt a right wally. 1983 P. Inchbald Short Break in Venice xviii. 177 Keith cracked a joke over the radio and got called a bleeding wally. 1984 Daily Tel. 14 June 1/4 ‘They looked a right load of wallies,’ said an eye-witness. 1985 M. Stott Before I Go iv. 77, I shall seem more of a ‘wally’ to them than ever because I don't know half the leading telly presenters. |
▪ IV. wally
var. waly int.