colly

adj

1. (British, dialectal)Black as coal.

   “four colly birds”

verb

1. (archaic, transitive)To make black, as with coal.

   “Thou hast not collied thy face enough, stinkard”

   “Brief as the lighting in the collied night.”

   “Not as I could find i' my heart to let him stay i' the coal-hole more nor a minute, but it was enough to colly him all over. . . .”

noun

1. (British, dialectal)Soot.

   “besmeared with soot , colly”

2. (British, dialectal)A blackbird
3. (alt-of, alternative, dated)Alternative spelling of collie.

   “Can a Whig lick the feet o' the tyrant wha usurps oor Lord's throne, and accept o' ane indulgence frae him, hurled to him as a bane to a colly dog, binding himself to think as he thinks, and to preach as he wulls it; and to flatter tyranny in church and state, to win a paltry boon!”

   “On the moors and mountains of Scotland the shepherd sends out his colly with the sheep, far out of his sight, conscious that when he sets out to look for them, they will be found herded safely together.”

   “Colly dog's early training is a rude one, but I think that it is mutual, and that the shepherd picks up a good deal of dog during the process.”