palsy-walsy

palsy-walsy
/pal"zee wal"zee/, adj. Slang.
friendly or appearing to be friendly in a very intimate or hearty way: The police kept their eye on him because he was trying to get palsy-walsy with the security guard.
[1930-35; rhyming compound based on PALSY2]

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • palsy-walsy — [pal΄zē wal′zē] adj. [redupl. of palsy < pals, pl. of PAL + Y2] Slang very friendly; intimate …   English World dictionary

  • palsy-walsy — [adj] very friendly affectionate, buddy buddy*, chummy*, close, clubby, confiding, fond, intimate, kissy huggy*, loveydovey*, neighborly, pally, thick; concept 555 …   New thesaurus

  • palsy-walsy — [“paelzi”waeM] 1. n. a good friend, pal, or buddy. (Also a term of address.) □ Look here, palsy walsy, let’s you and me get out of here. □ Meet my old palsy walsy, John. We’ve known each other since we were kids. 2. mod. friendly; overly friendly …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • palsy-walsy — British & Australian, informal if two people are palsy walsy, they seem very friendly, usually in a way that is not sincere. Those two have been getting very palsy walsy lately. She s all palsy walsy with the boss these days. (sometimes + with) …   New idioms dictionary

  • palsy-walsy — adjective (used colloquially) having the relationship of friends or pals • Syn: ↑chummy, ↑matey, ↑pally • Similar to: ↑friendly • Derivationally related forms: ↑mate (for …   Useful english dictionary

  • palsy-walsy —    ‘Whoa there, palsy walsy,’ says a young woman to a man in The Day of the Locust, by Nathanael West. In The Philanderer, by Stanley Kauffmann, occurs: ‘Well. palsy, they’re likely to ream you yet’ ‘Palsywalsy’ is typical of the reduplication… …   A dictionary of epithets and terms of address

  • palsy-walsy — adjective Etymology: reduplication of palsy Date: 1943 slang being or appearing to be very intimate …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • palsy-walsy — pal•sy wal•sy [[t]ˈpæl ziˈwæl zi[/t]] adj. sts sl. friendly in a very intimate or hearty way • Etymology: 1930–35; redupl. of palsy; see pal, sy …   From formal English to slang

  • Palsy-walsy — overly and often sycophantically friendly …   Dictionary of Australian slang

  • palsy-walsy — Australian Slang overly and often sycophantically friendly …   English dialects glossary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”