telly

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Shortened form of tele(vision) +‎ -y.

Noun

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telly (usually uncountable, plural tellys or tellies)

(UK, Commonwealth, Ireland)

  1. (colloquial) Television.
    Not much on telly tonight, as usual!
    • 2007 August 24, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 2, Episode 1:
      You're from telly!
    • 2021 June 30, Tim Dunn, “How We Made... Secrets of the London Underground”, in Rail, number 934, page 48:
      [...] they were all in agreement: this stuff had to be on the telly.
  2. (colloquial) A television set.
    We've got a new flat-screen telly.
  3. (colloquial) Telegraph.
  4. (colloquial) Telephone.
  5. (colloquial) Teleport.
  6. (colloquial) Telecommunication.
Usage notes
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The plural is not used in the US.

Alternative forms
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Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Shortened form of (ho)tel and/or (mo)tel +‎ -y.

Noun

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telly (plural tellies)

  1. (US, Canada, chiefly MTE, slang) A hotel or motel.
    I'm staying at the telly this weekend.

Etymology 3

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From tell +‎ -y, related to the writing advice show, don't tell.

Adjective

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telly (comparative more telly, superlative most telly)

  1. (informal, chiefly of a literary work) Inclined to telling (by explicitly stating facts), instead of showing (by conveying an impression so that events are described in the narrative).
    Antonym: showy
    • 1999 November 21, sophie, “Squealer : first revision”, in alt.arts.poetry.comments‎[1] (Usenet):
      I think my problem with it is that it's
      a) a little "telly" not "showy" in comparison to the rest […]
    • 2003 September 19, Patrick Null, “Failed Sept Challenge? (1409 words)”, in alt.fiction.original‎[2] (Usenet):
      There's a way to make this more showy and less telly. It's like you're in a hurry to get on with the rest of the story.
    • 2009 May 18, @kimmcgowan, Twitter‎[3], archived from the original on 2024-07-18:
      story is too, too telly; need at least 3 showy scenes to improve showing:telling ratio
    • 2016 February 12, Kelly, “Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo”, in Diva Booknerd‎[4], archived from the original on 2024-07-18:
      Six of Crows is very telly and little showy. You are constantly getting info dumps and mini-flashbacks to the characters past.
    • 2019 May 26, Chautona Havig, “This Book Gives New Meaning to “The Romance of the Rails””, in Chautona.com‎[5], archived from the original on 2024-07-18:
      The only other objection I have—and again, it’s minor—is that the very last chapter feels very “telly” and rushed. I get why, but a smoother exit would have really made an otherwise wonderful book almost perfect.
    • 2022 October 10, Brian Collins, “Short Story Review: “Bite-Me-Not or, Fleur de Fleu” by Tanith Lee”, in Science Fiction & Fantasy Remembrance‎[6], archived from the original on 2024-07-18:
      Lee’s style of narration reads like an old-style fairy tale to an extent—it’s very telly, if that makes any sense. We get descriptions of character actions and we’re told about character motives as filtered through the third-person narrator, but we don’t actually get to read these characters’ thoughts.
    • 2024 July 1, pinkjamie, “Well...”, in BookishFirst‎[7], archived from the original on 2024-07-18:
      The ending felt rushed to me, and I wish it would have been more showy and less telly.

Anagrams

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