"helly" meaning in English

See helly in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈhɛ.li/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-helly.wav [Southern-England] Forms: more helly [comparative], most helly [superlative]
Rhymes: -ɛli Etymology: From Middle English helly, hellic, from Old English hellīċ (“of hell, hellish, infernal”), equivalent to hell + -y. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|helly}} Middle English helly, {{inh|en|ang|hellīċ|t=of hell, hellish, infernal}} Old English hellīċ (“of hell, hellish, infernal”), {{af|en|hell|-y}} hell + -y Head templates: {{en-adj}} helly (comparative more helly, superlative most helly)
  1. (obsolete) Hellish, infernal. Tags: obsolete
    Sense id: en-helly-en-adj-WNSEd0wO Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -y, English terms suffixed with -y (adjectival), Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 98 2 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -y (adjectival): 85 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 98 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 98 2 Synonyms: Hadean, stygian, Acherontic [figuratively], infernal, Hadean, hellish, helly [obsolete], Plutonic, Plutonian, stygian [figuratively, literary], subtartarean, Tartarean
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Noun

Forms: more helly [comparative], most helly [superlative]
Etymology: From hell + -y Etymology templates: {{af|en|hell|-y|id2=adjectival}} hell + -y Head templates: {{en-adj}} helly (comparative more helly, superlative most helly)
  1. (mildly vulgar, slang) Synonym of hell. Tags: mildly, slang, vulgar Synonyms: hell [synonym, synonym-of] Related terms: rakehelly, what the helly, the helly
    Sense id: en-helly-en-noun-~fFmSuHI
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2
{
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "helly"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English helly",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "hellīċ",
        "t": "of hell, hellish, infernal"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English hellīċ (“of hell, hellish, infernal”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hell",
        "3": "-y"
      },
      "expansion": "hell + -y",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English helly, hellic, from Old English hellīċ (“of hell, hellish, infernal”), equivalent to hell + -y.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more helly",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most helly",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "helly (comparative more helly, superlative most helly)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "98 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -y",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -y (adjectival)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "98 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "98 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              42,
              47
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1603, Samuel Harsnet, A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures; quoted in Shakespeare's England: Life in Elizabethan & Jacobean Times, 2013, →ISBN:",
          "text": "These monster-swarms his Holiness and his helly crew have scraped and raked together out of old doting historiographers, wizardising augurs, imposturing soothsayers, dreaming poets, chimerical conceiters, and coiners of fables, […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              146,
              151
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1892, Theodore Sydney Vaughn, Satan in Arms Against Columbus, page 138:",
          "text": "Then wavered all the rebel rings, And of a sudden, ere a single blow Was struck, precipitous they shrieking fled, And sought the portals of their Helly home.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Hellish, infernal."
      ],
      "id": "en-helly-en-adj-WNSEd0wO",
      "links": [
        [
          "Hellish",
          "hellish"
        ],
        [
          "infernal",
          "infernal"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) Hellish, infernal."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Hadean"
        },
        {
          "word": "stygian"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "tags": [
            "figuratively"
          ],
          "word": "Acherontic"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "infernal"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "Hadean"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "hellish"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "tags": [
            "obsolete"
          ],
          "word": "helly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "Plutonic"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "Plutonian"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "tags": [
            "figuratively",
            "literary"
          ],
          "word": "stygian"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "subtartarean"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "Tartarean"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhɛ.li/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-helly.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/51/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-helly.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-helly.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/51/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-helly.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-helly.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "heli"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛli"
    }
  ],
  "word": "helly"
}

{
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hell",
        "3": "-y",
        "id2": "adjectival"
      },
      "expansion": "hell + -y",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From hell + -y",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more helly",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most helly",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "helly (comparative more helly, superlative most helly)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of hell."
      ],
      "id": "en-helly-en-noun-~fFmSuHI",
      "links": [
        [
          "hell",
          "hell#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(mildly vulgar, slang) Synonym of hell."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "rakehelly"
        },
        {
          "word": "what the helly"
        },
        {
          "word": "the helly"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "hell"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "mildly",
        "slang",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "helly"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms derived from Old English",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Old English",
    "English terms suffixed with -y",
    "English terms suffixed with -y (adjectival)",
    "English terms with homophones",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛli",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛli/2 syllables"
  ],
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "helly"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English helly",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "hellīċ",
        "t": "of hell, hellish, infernal"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English hellīċ (“of hell, hellish, infernal”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hell",
        "3": "-y"
      },
      "expansion": "hell + -y",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English helly, hellic, from Old English hellīċ (“of hell, hellish, infernal”), equivalent to hell + -y.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more helly",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most helly",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "helly (comparative more helly, superlative most helly)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              42,
              47
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1603, Samuel Harsnet, A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures; quoted in Shakespeare's England: Life in Elizabethan & Jacobean Times, 2013, →ISBN:",
          "text": "These monster-swarms his Holiness and his helly crew have scraped and raked together out of old doting historiographers, wizardising augurs, imposturing soothsayers, dreaming poets, chimerical conceiters, and coiners of fables, […].",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              146,
              151
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1892, Theodore Sydney Vaughn, Satan in Arms Against Columbus, page 138:",
          "text": "Then wavered all the rebel rings, And of a sudden, ere a single blow Was struck, precipitous they shrieking fled, And sought the portals of their Helly home.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Hellish, infernal."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Hellish",
          "hellish"
        ],
        [
          "infernal",
          "infernal"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) Hellish, infernal."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Hadean"
        },
        {
          "word": "stygian"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "tags": [
            "figuratively"
          ],
          "word": "Acherontic"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "infernal"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "Hadean"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "hellish"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "tags": [
            "obsolete"
          ],
          "word": "helly"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "Plutonic"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "Plutonian"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "tags": [
            "figuratively",
            "literary"
          ],
          "word": "stygian"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "subtartarean"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:infernal",
          "word": "Tartarean"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈhɛ.li/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-helly.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/51/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-helly.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-helly.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/51/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-helly.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-helly.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "homophone": "heli"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛli"
    }
  ],
  "word": "helly"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms suffixed with -y (adjectival)",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hell",
        "3": "-y",
        "id2": "adjectival"
      },
      "expansion": "hell + -y",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From hell + -y",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more helly",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most helly",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "helly (comparative more helly, superlative most helly)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "rakehelly"
    },
    {
      "word": "what the helly"
    },
    {
      "word": "the helly"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English vulgarities"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of hell."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "hell",
          "hell#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(mildly vulgar, slang) Synonym of hell."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "hell"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "mildly",
        "slang",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "helly"
}

Download raw JSONL data for helly meaning in English (4.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-07-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-07-06 using wiktextract (e62056b and e7887d5). 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.