I. ˈsilē, -li adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English sely, silly happy, blessed, innocent, pitiable, feeble, from (assumed) Old English sǣlig, from Old English sǣl happiness + -ig -y; akin to Old High German sālig happy, Old Norse sæla happiness, Gothic selei kindness, Latin solari to console, comfort, Greek hilaros cheerful
1.
a. : needing compassion or sympathy : pathetic
b. : helpless against attack : defenseless — usually used of sheep
c. : weak , sickly
d. obsolete : meager , paltry , scanty
2.
a. : rustic , simple , plain
silly buckets on the deck — S.T.Coleridge
a sound peaceful and silly as any cowbell heard in the Alps — Osbert Sitwell
b. obsolete : lowly in station : humble
3.
a. : weak in intellect : destitute of ordinary strength of mind
a child who was rather silly
b. : exhibiting a lack of judgement or intelligence : foolish , inane , vacuous
although we maintained a blackout at night, we felt silly about it — A.J.Liebling
the silly air of one who does not understand fear — Arnold Bennett
c. : contrary to reason : absurd , ridiculous , irrational
the question is as silly as it sounds — Telford Taylor
always making silly remarks
d. : lacking importance or serious meaning : trivial , trifling , frivolous
written in a facetious strain that accords with the rather silly title — Times Literary Supplement
if we tend to regard the pursuit of the new as necessarily silly and modish — E.R.Bentley
passed the time by telling silly stories
4. : dazed , stunned , stupefied — used postpositively
was knocked silly by the blow
would slap me silly — J.H.Burns
bored silly by the unwonted inactivity
5. : very close to the batsman — used of a fielding position in cricket or the player in it
silly point
silly mid on
silly leg
Synonyms: see foolish , simple
II. adverb
: sillily
behave silly
III. noun
( -es )
: one who is silly
am very likely a silly — meeting trouble half-way — D.H.Lawrence
well then, silly , why not stay! — Edna Ferber
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
transitive verb
chiefly dialect : to make silly
intransitive verb
chiefly dialect : to be or act silly