Obs. or dial. [The same word as 16th c. colie COALY; the vowel here remaining short, as in the original quantity of OE. col, *coliʓ, and in the verb collow, colly; while in the form coaly it is assimilated to COAL, of which the o was lengthened by position in ME.] Dirtied with coal-dust or soot; grimy; coal-black.
[1565–1594. Colie: see COALY.]
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon. (1634), 122. The great Titmouse (which, of his colly head and breast, some call a Colemouse).
1619. H. Hutton, Follies Anat. (Percy Soc.), 49. Vulcan … Lymping into the trough, to scour his face And colly fists.
1793. Compl. Farmer (ed. 4), s.v., Colley Sheep, such sheep as have black faces and legs.
1804. Duncumb, Herefordsh. Gloss., Colly, black; from coal.
1880. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, Ser. II. (1889), 290. The girl, who seemed to be cleaning up … for her face and arms were all ‘colly.’
