dolly

¹

[ dol-ee ]

noun

, plural dol·lies.

1. Informal. a doll.
2. a low truck or cart with small wheels for moving loads too heavy to be carried by hand.
3. Movies, Television. a small wheeled platform, usually having a short boom, on which a camera can be mounted for making moving shots.
4. Machinery. a tool for receiving and holding the head of a rivet while the other end is being headed.
5. a block placed on the head of a pile being driven to receive the shock of the blows.
6. a small locomotive operating on narrow-gauge tracks, especially in quarries, construction sites, etc.
7. a short, wooden pole with a hollow dishlike base for stirring clothes while laundering them.
8. Slang. a tablet of Dolophine.
9. Also called dolly bird. British Informal. an attractive girl or young woman.
10. (sometimes initial capital letter) Slang. an affectionate or familiar term of address, as to a child or romantic partner (sometimes offensive when used to strangers, casual acquaintances, subordinates, etc., especially by a male to a female).

verb (used with object)

, dol·lied, dol·ly·ing.

1. to transport or convey (a camera) by means of a dolly.

verb (used without object)

, dol·lied, dol·ly·ing.

1. to move a camera on a dolly, especially toward or away from the subject being filmed or televised (often followed by in or out ):

   to dolly in for a close-up.

Dolly

²

or Dol·lie

[ dol-ee ]

noun

1. a female given name, form of Doll.

dolly

/ ˈdɒlɪ /

noun

1. a child's word for a doll
2. films television a wheeled support on which a camera may be mounted
3. a cup-shaped anvil held against the head of a rivet while the other end is being hammered
4. a shaped block of lead used to hammer dents out of sheet metal
5. a distance piece placed between the head of a pile and the pile-driver to form an extension to the length of the pile
6. cricket a simple catch
7. slang.
   Also calleddolly bird an attractive and fashionable girl, esp one who is considered to be unintelligent

verb

1. films television to wheel (a camera) backwards or forwards on a dolly

Dolly

1. The first mammal successfully cloned — Dolly, a sheep — was born in 1996 in Scotland as the result of work by biologist Ian Wilmut ( see clone ). The procedure that produced Dolly involved removing the nucleus from an egg cell and placing the nucleus of an adult sheep's mammary cell into it. Further manipulations caused the egg to “turn on” all genes and develop like a normal zygote . ( See totipotency .)

Word History and Origins

Origin of dolly¹

1600–10; 1900–05 dolly fordef 9; doll + -y ²

Example Sentences

As I loaded up on Dolly swag at one of the many gift shops, the sales attendant engaged me in a charming conversation.

From Washington Post

Back then the conversation swirled around a little sheep named Dolly.

From Washington Post

Before Dolly, the thought of cloning a mammal was the stuff of science fiction, but — fast-forward 25 years — it wasn’t the feasibility of genome editing that was in question before He decided to edit human embryos.

From Washington Post

In one incident, a worker missed 119 days of work after being caught between a container and dolly.

From ProPublica

“Songteller” hits its stride when it gets to ’70s crossover pop star Dolly.

From Washington Post

Next came Dolly, after a big sorrel mare; and Paul, after a freckled pinto; and so on down the line.

From The Daily Beast

When I credit her for discovering Jennifer Lawrence in casting her as Ree Dolly, she smiles bashfully, before backpedaling a bit.

From The Daily Beast

So Sinatra simply chartered Dolly her own Learjet for the twenty-minute flight to Las Vegas.

From The Daily Beast

"It is hot and it is ready," says Bernice Michaud, who has been waitressing at Dolly's for over a quarter century.

From The Daily Beast

Dolly Parton, although rumored to be heterosexual, certainly has a big place in the gay world.

From The Daily Beast

Gilbert was not at all satisfied with the promise Dolly had given to his father; he thought himself slighted and ill-used.

From Project Gutenberg

I would rather go to church with Dolly in homespun, than ride in a carriage beside that shrivelled piece of tanned leather.

From Project Gutenberg

This last remark recalled poor Dolly's grief, and she fell to crying worse than before.

From Project Gutenberg

You had better go to him, Dolly, and bid him good bye, before he takes the team to the field.

From Project Gutenberg

And the team moved on, and poor Dolly, more ashamed of her errand than ever, went into the house.

From Project Gutenberg