Home › Words › C › collycolly/ˈkɒli/colly means black as coal.colly is pronounced /ˈkɒli/.EtymologyFrom Middle English coly, from Old English *coliġ, from Proto-West Germanic *kolig, equivalent to coal + -y. Doublet of coaly.adjBlack as coal.e.g.“four colly birds” — 1780, unknown author, Twelve Days of Christmas:nounSoot.e.g.“besmeared with soot , colly” — 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:A blackbirdverbTo make black, as with coal.e.g.“Thou hast not collied thy face enough, stinkard” — 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene iv:Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).Words closest in meaningBy meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.collow 79% match — To make foul or dirty; begrime as with the smut of coal; blacken. vs colly →coaly 72% match — Resembling coal. vs colly →coallike 71% match — Resembling or characteristic of coal. vs colly →blacked 65% match — Colored black. vs colly →colliness 65% match — The state or quality of being colly. vs colly →blackly 65% match — With a black appearance. vs colly →coalery 64% match — A colliery. vs colly →blacklet 63% match — A speck of soot. vs colly →