a food preparation of a soft, elastic consistency due to the presence of gelatin, pectin, etc., especially fruit juice boiled down with sugar and used as a sweet spread for bread and toast, as a filling for cakes or doughnuts, etc.
2.
any substance having the consistency of jelly.
3.
Chiefly British. a fruit-flavored gelatin dessert.
4.
a plastic sandal or shoe.
verb (used with object), verb (used without object), jellied, jellying.
5.
to bring or come to the consistency of jelly.
adjective
6.
containing or made, spread, or topped with jelly or syrup; jellied:
jelly apples.
Origin
1350-1400;Middle Englishgely < Old Frenchgelee frozen jelly < Medieval Latingelāta frozen, equivalent to Latingel- freeze + -āta-ate1; cf. gel, cold
Related forms
jellylike, adjective
Examples from the web for jelly
Unfortunately, they glowed green, the colour of the light from natural crystal-jelly protein.
There are patents on making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Spread before folding with jam, jelly, or marmalade.
If any is left over, drain from grounds, and reserve for making of jelly or other dessert.
If you want to guess how many jelly beans are in a jar, you should ask your friends.
The table is dominated by an enormous bowl of jelly beans with a soup ladle inside.
He understood that they were only animated cavities full of jelly and strings and liquids.
Intensely flavored and vibrant red, this jelly bears no resemblance to the stuff in the can.
To move directionally, the jelly follows the swing of an internal pendulum.
Blind and hairless, joeys are no bigger than jelly beans.
British Dictionary definitions for jelly
jelly1
/ˈdʒɛlɪ/
noun (pl) -lies
1.
a fruit-flavoured clear dessert set with gelatine US and Canadian trademark Jell-o
2.
a preserve made from the juice of fruit boiled with sugar and used as jam
3.
a savoury food preparation set with gelatine or with a strong gelatinous stock and having a soft elastic consistency: calf's-foot jelly
4.
anything having the consistency of jelly
5.
(informal) a coloured gelatine filter that can be fitted in front of a stage or studio light
verb -lies, -lying, -lied
6.
to jellify
Derived Forms
jelly-like, adjective
Word Origin
C14: from Old French gelee frost, jelly, from geler to set hard, from Latin gelāre, from gelu frost
late 14c., from Old French gelee "a frost; jelly," noun use of fem. past participle of geler "congeal," from Latin gelare "to freeze," from gelu "frost" (see cold (adj.)).
v.
c.1600, from jelly (n.). Related: Jellied; jellying.
jelly in Medicine
jelly jel·ly (jěl'ē) n. A semisolid resilient substance usually containing some form of gelatin in solution.