jelly

Pluraljellies

Formsjellies, jellying, jellied

1. 1
   fruit spreadnounCanadaUScountable or uncountable

   A clear or translucent fruit preserve made from fruit juice and set with pectin, either natural to the fruit or added.

   She spread a thin layer of red currant jelly over the warm biscuits.

   The jellies at the farmers market come in apple, quince and hot pepper.

   Similarpreserve

   Note

   Clarity is the test: only the fruit's juice goes in, dripped clear through a cloth and then cooked with sugar until it holds its shape when turned from the glass. That straining is what separates it from jam, though the two words are often used loosely for each other.

2. 2
   dessertnounCommonwealthcountable or uncountable

   A dessert made by boiling gelatin, or a plant-based alternative such as agar, with sugar and flavoring, often from fruit, and letting it set.

   She made an orange jelly in a rabbit-shaped mould for the children's party.

   Vegetarian jellies are set with agar instead of gelatine.

   Similarjello

   Note

   British and American cooks mean different things by this word. Across the Commonwealth a jelly is the set, wobbly dessert that Americans call jello; in North America the word usually means the clear fruit spread, so a jelly in a British recipe and a jelly in an American one are different foods.

3. 3
   soft substancenouncountable or uncountable

   Any substance or object with the consistency of the gelatin dessert or the fruit preserve.

   Simmering the seeds releases a slippery jelly that thickens the soup.

   By the end of the fight, his nose had been beaten to a jelly.

   Similargel, pulp

   Note

   Its liveliest use is the idiom beat someone to a jelly, found in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in 1821, where Sam beats his opponent's face to a jelly without getting a scratch. H. G. Wells stretches the figure in The First Men in the Moon, whose most profound lunar scholars are "wabbling jellies of knowledge" carried about in tubs.

4. 4
   jealousadjectiveslang

   Feeling jealous, as of someone's looks, luck or possessions.

   Half the group chat was jelly of his concert tickets.

   Don't be jelly, you'll get a turn on the new console soon.

   Similarjealous, envious

   Note

   Jealous is clipped and given the playful -y of casual words, and the result was turning up in comment threads and a high-school paper by 2011. It usually follows be, as in you're all just jelly, and takes of for the cause: jelly of my thigh gap. Keep it to texts and joking; it never belongs in formal writing.

5. 5
   sea animalnouncountable or uncountable

   In zoology and marine biology, a jellyfish.

   The new exhibit lets visitors watch a single jelly pulse slowly through the dark water.

   Divers were warned to keep their distance from the larger jellies near the reef.

   Similarjellyfish

   Note

   Marine biologists often prefer the short form, since these animals are not fish at all. It also covers drifters outside the true jellyfish: the comb jellies belong to Ctenophora, a separate phylum from the Cnidaria, though both groups have kept something close to their present form for more than half a billion years.

6. 6
   savory gelnouncountable or uncountable

   A savory substance derived from meat that sets to the same texture as the gelatin dessert.

   As the bone stock cooled overnight, it set into a firm jelly.

   Chilled slices of ham were served in a savory jelly flecked with herbs.

   Similaraspic

7. 7
   plastic shoenouncolloquialcountable or uncountable

   Short for jelly shoe, a shoe or sandal made of soft, often transparent plastic.

   Every girl in the class had a pair of glittery jellies that summer.

   Her left jelly squeaked with every step on the wet boardwalk.

8. 8
   big bottomnounslangUScountable or uncountable

   A person's large buttocks, especially a woman's.

   The DJ told the whole crowd to get up and shake their jelly.

   He joked that all the holiday pie had gone straight to his jelly.

   Similarbooty, butt, bottom, behind

   Note

   Someone is nearly always shaking it: in Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious" (2001) the singer shakes hers whenever she can, and shake your jelly is the phrase to expect. It is cheeky rather than crude, but it is still a remark about a person's body, so keep it for dance floors and teasing among friends.

9. 9
   turn to gelverbtransitive

   To turn something into jelly.

   She jellied the leftover stock so it could be sliced and served cold.

   Cooks who jelly fruit juice need enough pectin to make it set.

   Similarset

10. 10
    preserve in gelverbtransitive

    To preserve food by setting it in jelly.

    The shop still jellies its eels the old way, in a broth that sets as it cools.

    Butchers jelly the pressed pork in a loaf pan so it can be sliced cold.

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