Forms: 4 geli, 5 gelle, 5–6 gele, gely(e, iely, 5–9 gelly, 6 gelley, (chely, gelu), 6–7 gellie, -ye, iellie, 7– jelly. [ME. gelé, a. F. gelée frost, also (14th c. in Littré) jelly:—L. gelāta frozen, congealed, pa. pple. of gelāre to freeze, used subst. in Romanic: see -ADE.]
1. An article of food, consisting chiefly of gelatin, obtained from various animal tissues, as skin, tendons, bones, etc., by boiling and subsequent cooling, having a characteristic soft stiff homogeneous consistence, and usually semitransparent. Also, in later use, a preparation of the juice of fruit, or other vegetable substances, thickened into a similar consistence.
1393. [see jelly-cloth in 4].
14[?]. Lydg., Hors, Shepe, & G. (Roxb.), 19. Of the shepe … Of whos hede boylled … Ther cometh a gely [MS. Lamb. 306 Iely] and an oynement.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 25. Gelye de chare. Ibid., 26. Gelye de Fysshe … Do as þou dedyst be þat oþer Gelye.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 44. Tyll it begyn to waxe thycke lyke a gelly.
1525–6. in Nichols, Progr. Q. Eliz. (1823), I. 252, note. All honest manner and good order,… in wine, brawn, chely, or other vitails.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 80 b. Spices, fruites, ielies, and banket viandes.
1602. Plat, Delights (1608), § 58. A white gelly of Almonds.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 37. Jelly which we make of the flesh of young pigs, calves feet, and a cock.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, i. in Aliments, etc. 249. The Jelly or Juice of red Cabbage, bak’d in an Oven. Ibid., 252. Robs and Gellies of Garden Fruits.
c. 1850. Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 179. She desired some thick jelly made from chickens … to be served up.
† b. The substance GELATIN, which forms the basis of animal jellies. Obs.
1800. trans. Lagrange’s Chem., II. 414. A mucous matter, exceedingly soluble in warm water, which is known under the name of Jelly.
1805. W. Saunders, Min. Waters, 13. Animal gelly which is easy of solution.
1839. G. Bird, Nat. Phil., 373. Jelly, solutions of gum, and albuminous fluids, allowed to evaporate spontaneously, so as to leave an indurated mass.
1855. Mayne, Expos. Lex., Jelly, common name for the substance gelatine.
2. gen. Anything of the consistence of jelly; a gelatinous substance of any kind.
c. 1600. Donne, Progr. Soul, xxiii. A female fishes sandie Roe With the males ielly newly lev’ned was.
1605. Timme, Quersit., III. 178. Take of … the ielly or sperme of frogges, which is to be found in standing waters.
1605. Shaks., Lear, III. vii. 83. Ser. My Lord, you haue one eye left…. Corn. Lest it see more, preuent it; Out vilde gelly.
1631. Massinger, Beleeve as You List, III. ix. How my jelly quakes!
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C., 121. One would verily have thought, that … Stone had been broken or bruised whilst a Gelly … and so hardened.
1676. D’Urfey, Mad. Fickle, II. i. (1677), 14. I could have beaten the Woman into a Jelly.
1793. Beddoes, Math. Evid., 124. Those masses of animated jelly, which one sees at times scattered along the sea shore.
1846. G. E. Day, trans. Simon’s Anim. Chem., II. 203. The pus becomes so viscid as to form a tenacious jelly.
fig. 1651. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., II. xl. (1739), 178. Lordship, once bringing therewith both Authority and Power unto Kings,… in these latter days is become a mere Jelly.
b. spec. Applied to the alga Nostoc, which appears as a jelly-like mass on dry soil after rain, and was popularly supposed to be the remains of a fallen ‘star’ or meteor.
a. 1641. Suckling, Poems, Farew. to Love. As he whose quicker eye doth trace A false star shot to a mark’t place Do’s run apace, And thinking it to catch, A gelly up do’s snatch.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., I. Prelim. Exhort. ¶ 7. Stand staring upon a Meteor or an inflamed gelly.
1656. H. More, Enthus. Tri., 45. That the Starres eat,… that those falling Starres, as some call them, which are found on the earth in the form of a trembling gelly, are their excrement.
1678–9. Dryden & Lee, Œdipus, II. i. The shooting stars end all in purple jellies.
1679. Dryden, Sp. Friar, Ded. When I had taken up what I supposed a fallen star, I found I had been cozened with a jelly.
1740. Somerville, Hobbinol, II. 266. Like that falling Meteor, there she lies, A Jelly cold on Earth.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1768), II. 423–4. The Winter Mew…. The gelatinous substance, known by the name of Star Shot, or Star Gelly, owes its origin to this bird,… being nothing but the half digested remains of earth-worms, on which these birds feed.
[1875. Bennett & Dyer, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 215. Nostoc … consists, when mature, of a large number of moniliform threads … imbedded in a glutinous jelly, and thus united into colonies.]
c. A jelly-fish.
1882. C. F. Holder, in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 181. One of these large jellies was observed … moving lazily along, its disk encircled by a halo twenty-feet in diameter, while the train of gleaming tentacles stretched away two hundred feet or more.
d. A mixture of gelatin and glycerin used for mounting microscopic objects.
1856. Carpenter, Microscope, 246. This Composition, when cold, forms a very stiff jelly. Ibid. (1891), 443. When used, the jelly must be liquified by gentle warmth, and it is useful to warm both the slide and the cover-glass previous to mounting.
3. ellipt. A jelly-glass. (Cf. a salt.)
1709. Lond. Gaz., No. 4595/4. There is lately brought over a great Parcel of … German Cut and Carv’d Glasses, viz. Jellies, Wine and Water Tumblers [etc.].
4. attrib. and Comb., as jelly-broth, -dish, -glass, -mo(u)ld, -pot; jelly-like adj.; † jelly-blood, clotted blood (obs.); jelly-cloth, a cloth for straining jelly; jelly-dog (slang), a harrier (so called from being used to hunt hares, which are eaten with currant jelly); hence jelly-dogging, hunting with harriers; jelly-lichen, a lichen of gelatinous texture, such as Collema; jelly-nut (see quot.); jelly-plant, an Australian seaweed: see quot. 1866; † jelly-poke = JELLY-BAG.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 120. Thee blackned *gellyeblud, hardning, Shee skums with napkins.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. iv. 40. They softly wipt away the gelly blood From th’ orifice.
a. 1648. Digby, Closet Open. (1669), 156. Make a very good *gelly-broth of Mutton.
1393. Earl Derby’s Exp. (Camden), 234. Et pro iij. vergis tele pro j *gelicloth, xviijs.
c. 1480. Guild Acc., in Blades, Caxton (1882), 79. ix dosen *gely dishes.
1897. W. E. Norris, Marietta’s Marriage, 4. We have no hounds hereabouts, except the *jelly-dogs.
1889. R. S. S. Baden-Powell, Pigsticking, 20. You, dear reader, would prefer a gallop with the Quorn or Cottesmore to a day’s *‘jelly dogging!’
1738. Stuart, in Phil. Trans., XL. 8. A wine or *jelly glass, or any such vessel tapering towards the bottom.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1818), IV. 361. Studded with little *jelly-like drops.
1835–6. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 512/2. The … jelly-like body of the Polypifera.
1860. All Year Round, No. 74. 557/2. Looking at schools too often as if they were *jelly-moulds, and the young mind a jelly.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 361. The cocoanuts are called *‘jelly-nuts’ before the flesh is ripe and has hardened, and while it can still be scraped off in the form of a delicious thin pulp.
1866. Treas. Bot., 473/1. Eucheuma speciosum is the *Jelly-plant of Australia, and is one of the best species for making jelly, size, cement, etc.
1516–7. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 106. Pro una uln. panni lanei pro le *gelypoke, 8d.
c. 1865. G. Gore, in Circ. Sc., I. 233/1. Coat the inside of a glass jar or earthen *jelly-pot with wax.
