Colly

Origin

From Middle English cole ("coal") + -y

Full definition of colly

Adjective

1. (British, dialect) black as coal... four colly birds ... - Twelve Days of Christmas_(song)

Verb

1. (transitive, archaic) to make black, as with coal
• Ben JonsonThou hast not collied thy face enough.
• ShakespeareBrief as the lighting in the collied night.
• 1861 , w, Silas Marner Chapter s:Silas Marner/Chapter 14, Not as I could find i' my heart to let him stay i' the coal-hole more nor a minute, but it was enough to colly him all over. . . .

Noun

1. (British, dialect) Soot.
2. (British, dialect) A blackbird
3. (dated) Alternative spelling of collie
• 1833, William Craig Brownlee, The Whigs of Scotland: Or, The Last of the Stuarts, vol. 2, Can a Whig lick the feet o' the tyrant wha usurps oor Lord's throne, and accept o' ane indulgence frae him, hurled to him as a bane to a colly dog, binding himself to think as he thinks, and to preach as he wulls it; and to flatter tyranny in church and state, to win a paltry boon!
• 1847, Thomas Miller, The Boy's Country Book, On the moors and mountains of Scotland the shepherd sends out his colly with the sheep, far out of his sight, conscious that when he sets out to look for them, they will be found herded safely together.
• 1861, Francis Galton, Vacation Tourists and Notes of Travel in 1860, Colly dog's early training is a rude one, but I think that it is mutual, and that the shepherd picks up a good deal of dog during the process.