"googly" meaning in English

See googly in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈɡʉːɡli/ [General-Australian, New-Zealand], /ˈɡuɡli/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-googly.ogg Forms: googlier [comparative], googliest [superlative]
Etymology: Uncertain. Perhaps from goo-goo (“amorous”), or directly from goggle. Attested from 1901. Etymology templates: {{unc|en}} Uncertain Head templates: {{en-adj|er}} googly (comparative googlier, superlative googliest)
  1. (of the eyes) Bulging.
    Sense id: en-googly-en-adj-4BK2dt6t
  2. (usually of eyes, sometimes of persons) Appearing to be amorous, flirtatious. Tags: sometimes, usually
    Sense id: en-googly-en-adj-Or5To6y9
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: googly-eyed, googly eye, googly-moogly
Etymology number: 2

Noun

IPA: /ˈɡʉːɡli/ [General-Australian, New-Zealand], /ˈɡuɡli/ [General-American] Audio: en-au-googly.ogg Forms: googlies [plural]
Etymology: Unknown; perhaps derived from googie (“an egg, in reference to the unusual direction of bounce”). Though the delivery was perfected and made famous by English cricketer Bernard Bosanquet, circa 1900, the term is recorded earlier in Australian English (1896). Etymology templates: {{unk|en}} Unknown Head templates: {{en-noun}} googly (plural googlies)
  1. (cricket) A ball, bowled by a leg-break bowler, that spins from off to leg (to a right-handed batsman), unlike a normal leg-break delivery. Categories (topical): Cricket Synonyms: bosie, bosey, wrong 'un Derived forms: bowl a googly, google
    Sense id: en-googly-en-noun-NOAAFO3Y Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English links with manual fragments, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 7 14 79 Disambiguation of English links with manual fragments: 15 30 55 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 13 8 80 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 12 8 81 Topics: ball-games, cricket, games, hobbies, lifestyle, sports Related terms: chinaman, cutter, doosra, full toss, inswing, leg break, off-break, outswing, screwball grip, seamer, yorker
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Unknown",
      "name": "unk"
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "Unknown; perhaps derived from googie (“an egg, in reference to the unusual direction of bounce”). Though the delivery was perfected and made famous by English cricketer Bernard Bosanquet, circa 1900, the term is recorded earlier in Australian English (1896).",
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  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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          "kind": "topical",
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          "orig": "en:Cricket",
          "parents": [
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            "Human activity",
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            "Fundamental"
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      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "bowl a googly"
        },
        {
          "word": "google"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1896 November 28, The Independent, Foostcray, Vic, page 3, column 3:",
          "text": "To go the whole round of bowlers before, again putting, on either Copplestone or B. Goodwin was a mistake, I thought, and equally so were Molyneau's repeated attempts at bowling slow \"googlies.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1904 March 9, The Otago Witness, Otago, page 52:",
          "text": "Pelham Warner says Bosanquet is really invaluable. He can bowl as badly as anyone in the world, but when he gets a length those slow googlies, as the Australian players call them, are apt to paralyse the greatest players.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A ball, bowled by a leg-break bowler, that spins from off to leg (to a right-handed batsman), unlike a normal leg-break delivery."
      ],
      "id": "en-googly-en-noun-NOAAFO3Y",
      "links": [
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          "ball",
          "ball#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "bowled",
          "bowl#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "leg-break",
          "leg break"
        ],
        [
          "bowler",
          "bowler"
        ],
        [
          "spins",
          "spin#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "off",
          "off#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "leg",
          "leg#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "right-handed",
          "right-handed"
        ],
        [
          "batsman",
          "batsman"
        ],
        [
          "unlike",
          "unlike"
        ],
        [
          "normal",
          "normal#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "delivery",
          "delivery"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(cricket) A ball, bowled by a leg-break bowler, that spins from off to leg (to a right-handed batsman), unlike a normal leg-break delivery."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "chinaman"
        },
        {
          "word": "cutter"
        },
        {
          "word": "doosra"
        },
        {
          "word": "full toss"
        },
        {
          "word": "inswing"
        },
        {
          "word": "leg break"
        },
        {
          "word": "off-break"
        },
        {
          "word": "outswing"
        },
        {
          "word": "screwball grip"
        },
        {
          "word": "seamer"
        },
        {
          "word": "yorker"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bosie"
        },
        {
          "word": "bosey"
        },
        {
          "word": "wrong 'un"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "ball-games",
        "cricket",
        "games",
        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡʉːɡli/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian",
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡuɡli/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-googly.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/03/En-au-googly.ogg/En-au-googly.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/En-au-googly.ogg"
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  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Bernard Bosanquet (cricketer)"
  ],
  "word": "googly"
}

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      },
      "expansion": "Uncertain",
      "name": "unc"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Uncertain. Perhaps from goo-goo (“amorous”), or directly from goggle. Attested from 1901.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "googlier",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "googliest",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
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  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "googly-eyed"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "googly eye"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "googly-moogly"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2013, Ruchama King Feuerman, In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist, page 208:",
          "text": "“A shtinker,” the bug-eyed man said more loudly. […]“B'seder, fine, a shtinker rabbi,” the googly-eyed man amended, rubbing his lower gut. “But can’t you tell he’s an informer?”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Bulging."
      ],
      "id": "en-googly-en-adj-4BK2dt6t",
      "links": [
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          "eye",
          "eye"
        ],
        [
          "Bulging",
          "bulge"
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        "(of the eyes) Bulging."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of the eyes"
      ]
    },
    {
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1981, Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children, page 131:",
          "text": "‘Torture my foot! You think it’s torture for a man to ask his wife for attention? God save me from stupid women!’ – my father limped downstairs to make googly eyes at Colaba girls.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Elizabeth Harbison, Drive Me Wild, Harlequin:",
          "text": "“Attractive enough? You should see how the mothers here act around him.” She sighed. “Everyone goes all googly when he’s around.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Appearing to be amorous, flirtatious."
      ],
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          "amorous",
          "amorous"
        ],
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        ]
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        "(usually of eyes, sometimes of persons) Appearing to be amorous, flirtatious."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of eyes",
        "of persons"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "sometimes",
        "usually"
      ]
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      "ipa": "/ˈɡuɡli/",
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        "General-American"
      ]
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    {
      "audio": "en-au-googly.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/03/En-au-googly.ogg/En-au-googly.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/En-au-googly.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "googly"
}
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    "English links with manual fragments",
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  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "bowl a googly"
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      "word": "google"
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  "etymology_number": 1,
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  "forms": [
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        "plural"
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
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  "related": [
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      "word": "chinaman"
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    {
      "word": "cutter"
    },
    {
      "word": "doosra"
    },
    {
      "word": "full toss"
    },
    {
      "word": "inswing"
    },
    {
      "word": "leg break"
    },
    {
      "word": "off-break"
    },
    {
      "word": "outswing"
    },
    {
      "word": "screwball grip"
    },
    {
      "word": "seamer"
    },
    {
      "word": "yorker"
    }
  ],
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        "en:Cricket"
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          "ref": "1896 November 28, The Independent, Foostcray, Vic, page 3, column 3:",
          "text": "To go the whole round of bowlers before, again putting, on either Copplestone or B. Goodwin was a mistake, I thought, and equally so were Molyneau's repeated attempts at bowling slow \"googlies.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1904 March 9, The Otago Witness, Otago, page 52:",
          "text": "Pelham Warner says Bosanquet is really invaluable. He can bowl as badly as anyone in the world, but when he gets a length those slow googlies, as the Australian players call them, are apt to paralyse the greatest players.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A ball, bowled by a leg-break bowler, that spins from off to leg (to a right-handed batsman), unlike a normal leg-break delivery."
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        [
          "leg-break",
          "leg break"
        ],
        [
          "bowler",
          "bowler"
        ],
        [
          "spins",
          "spin#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "off",
          "off#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "leg",
          "leg#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "right-handed",
          "right-handed"
        ],
        [
          "batsman",
          "batsman"
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        [
          "unlike",
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          "normal",
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        ],
        [
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          "delivery"
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        "(cricket) A ball, bowled by a leg-break bowler, that spins from off to leg (to a right-handed batsman), unlike a normal leg-break delivery."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "bosie"
        },
        {
          "word": "bosey"
        },
        {
          "word": "wrong 'un"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
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        "hobbies",
        "lifestyle",
        "sports"
      ]
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      "ipa": "/ˈɡʉːɡli/",
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        "General-Australian",
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡuɡli/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
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      "audio": "en-au-googly.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/03/En-au-googly.ogg/En-au-googly.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/En-au-googly.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Bernard Bosanquet (cricketer)"
  ],
  "word": "googly"
}

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    "English terms with unknown etymologies",
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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "googlier",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "googliest",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
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      "word": "googly-eyed"
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    {
      "word": "googly eye"
    },
    {
      "word": "googly-moogly"
    }
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        {
          "ref": "2013, Ruchama King Feuerman, In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist, page 208:",
          "text": "“A shtinker,” the bug-eyed man said more loudly. […]“B'seder, fine, a shtinker rabbi,” the googly-eyed man amended, rubbing his lower gut. “But can’t you tell he’s an informer?”",
          "type": "quote"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Bulging."
      ],
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          "eye",
          "eye"
        ],
        [
          "Bulging",
          "bulge"
        ]
      ],
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        "(of the eyes) Bulging."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of the eyes"
      ]
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        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
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        {
          "ref": "1981, Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children, page 131:",
          "text": "‘Torture my foot! You think it’s torture for a man to ask his wife for attention? God save me from stupid women!’ – my father limped downstairs to make googly eyes at Colaba girls.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Elizabeth Harbison, Drive Me Wild, Harlequin:",
          "text": "“Attractive enough? You should see how the mothers here act around him.” She sighed. “Everyone goes all googly when he’s around.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Appearing to be amorous, flirtatious."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "amorous",
          "amorous"
        ],
        [
          "flirtatious",
          "flirtatious"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(usually of eyes, sometimes of persons) Appearing to be amorous, flirtatious."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of eyes",
        "of persons"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "sometimes",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡʉːɡli/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian",
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈɡuɡli/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-googly.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/03/En-au-googly.ogg/En-au-googly.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/En-au-googly.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "googly"
}

Download raw JSONL data for googly meaning in English (5.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.