dolly

Etymology

It is formed from English doll + -y,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} first as a pet form of the name Doll, a familiar form of Dorothy,^[2][8][7] with the -l- for -r- found in other nicknames, such as Hal for Harold and Moll for Mary.^[8][9] The name Dorothy came through French Dorothée from Latin Dorothea, from a Greek name meaning "gift of God".^[8] For the slang senses, the Green's Dictionary of Slang notes Ian Hancock's suggestion of Italian dolce (“sweet”) through Polari,^[10][11] but the dictionaries derive them from the name.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pet form of the name Dorothy: 1612, in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist.^[2] Etymonline dates the nickname to about 1600,^[8] Dictionary.com to 1600–10.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Like doll, the name became a word: in 17th-century slang a dolly was a woman kept as a pet or mistress, from 1648 in Herrick until 1706.^[2][10][8] A child's doll was called a dolly from 1790.^[2][8][4] Etymonline dates to 1792 the use of the word for contrivances thought to resemble a doll, as jack, jenny and jimmy were.^[8][7] The earliest in the OED is the wooden stirrer used in a washtub (1793);^[2] later came a buffer on top of a pile (1838), a tool for forming the head of a rivet (1848) and, in Australian gold-mining, a crusher for quartz (1869).^[2][12] Etymonline dates the small platform on rollers to 1901,^[8] and the verb for moving a film camera on such a platform toward or away from its subject is recorded from 1939.^[2] In northern English dialect, from 1828, a dolly was an untidy or useless woman,^[2][4] while from 1906 colloquial English used it for an attractive young woman,^[2][8] and the adjective dolly, attractive or fashionable, followed in 1964.^[2] The same year, 1906, cricket adopted it for a very easy catch.^[2]

Timeline

• 1612 – a pet form of Dorothy.^[2]
• 1648 – slang, a female pet or mistress (obsolete by 1706).^[2][10]
• 1790 – a child's doll.^[2][8][4]
• 1793 – a wooden stirrer for washing clothes in a tub.^[2]
• 1828 – northern dialect, an untidy woman.^[2]
• 1848 – a tool used in forming the head of a rivet.^[2]
• 1852 – adjective, doll-like, foolish.^[2]
• 1869 – in Australian gold-mining, a quartz crusher.^[2]
• 1901 – a small platform on rollers.^[8]
• 1906 – an attractive young woman; in cricket, an easy catch.^[2][8]
• 1939 – verb, to move a film camera toward or away from the subject.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A child's word for a doll.^[13][4][14]
2. A low wheeled platform or hand truck for moving heavy loads: They rolled the piano to the van on a dolly.^[14][4]
3. A wheeled support on which a film or television camera is moved.^[13][14][12]
4. A tool held against the head of a rivet while the other end is hammered.^[13][2]
5. In cricket, a very easy catch.^[12][2][3]
6. A wooden stick with prongs for stirring clothes in a washtub.^[4][2][12]
7. In Australia and New Zealand, an apparatus for crushing quartz to extract gold.^[12][2]
8. (colloquial) An attractive young woman.^[4][2][3]

Verb

1. To move a film or television camera on a dolly toward or away from the subject.^[14][4][2]
2. To move something on a dolly.^[4]
3. To wash clothes with a dolly, or to crush ore with one.^[4][2][3]

Adjective

1. (colloquial) In cricket and other games, very easy, as of a catch.^[2][3]
2. (colloquial) Of a young woman, attractive or fashionable.^[2][3]

Word family

• dollyman
• dolly bird
• dolly shot

Related words

• doll

Usage notes

In the English of India, a separate word dolly (1860) is a gift of fruit, flowers or sweets presented on a tray;^[2][15][4] it is Hindi डाली (ḍālī), properly a branch or a basket.^[2][15][4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
11. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d e Moore, Bruce, ed. (2004), The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
15. ^ a b Yule, Henry; Burnell, A. C. (1903), Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, new ed. by William Crooke, London: John Murray