Jelly

/ˈd͡ʒɛl.i/ · noun

Meaning

(Commonwealth) A dessert made by boiling gelatine (or a plant-based alternative such as agar or carrageenan), sugar and some flavouring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set..

Definitions by Sense

1. (Commonwealth) A dessert made by boiling gelatine (or a plant-based alternative such as agar or carrageenan), sugar and some flavouring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set.
2. (chiefly Canada, US) A clear or translucent fruit preserve, made from fruit juice and set using either naturally occurring, or added, pectin.
3. (Caribbean, Jamaica) Clipping of jelly coconut.
4. A savoury substance, derived from meat, that has the same texture as the dessert.
5. Any substance or object having the consistency of the dessert or preserve.
6. (zoology) A jellyfish.
7. (slang, now rare) A pretty girl; a girlfriend.
8. (US, slang) A large backside, especially a woman's.

Example Sentences

His mother prepared jelly for him and his friends for dessert.

Rincewind relaxed slightly, which was to say that he still made a violin string look like a bowl of jelly.

Perfect jelly is of appetizing flavor; beautifully colored and translucent; tender enough to cut easily with a spoon, yet firm enough to hold its shape when turned from the glass.

Jelly has great clarity. Two cooking processes are involved. First, the juice alone is extracted from the fruit. Only that portion thin and clear enough to drip through a cloth is cooked with sugar until sufficiently firm to hold its shape. It is never stiff and never gummy.

calf's-foot jelly

Sam floored him perpetually, and beat his face to a jelly, without getting a scratch.

[…] some of the profounder scholars are altogether too great for locomotion, and are carried from place to place in a sort of sedan tub, wabbling jellies of knowledge that enlist my respectful astonishment.

Species of the phylum Cnidaria – the classic jelly – have existed in something close to their current form for at least 565 million years; Ctenophora, the comb jellies, are not much younger.

Synonyms for jelly

Antonyms for jelly

Related Words

Word Forms

• jellies
• gelly
• jellying
• jellied
• more jelly
• most jelly

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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