smiley

[smahy-lee] /ˈsmaɪ li/

noun, plural smileys. Also called smiley face

a digital icon, a sequence of keyboard symbols, or a handwritten or printed equivalent, that serves to represent a facial expression, as :‐) for a smiling face or ;‐) for a winking face.

Compare emoticon.

Usually, smile face. a drawing of a face consisting of a usually yellow circle with an upturned curve for a smile and two dots for eyes.

adjective

cheerful; smiling.

Origin

1985-90

Smiley

[smahy-lee] /ˈsmaɪ li/

noun

Jane, born 1949, U.S. novelist.

Examples from the web for smiley

Yes, and that seems to be independent of how talkative mothers are or how smiley mothers are.
Moreover, her findings did not come with a big smiley face.
smiley is a tough part to cast for a lot of reasons.
smiley-faced signs invite the public to loll around, frolic, and picnic on the greenery.
Good behaviour, bad behaviour, and the environmental impact of smiley faces.
Oh, and above, that's a colon placed properly within a parenthesis not a smiley.
There isn't even a smiley to let people know that it is a joke.
Cuteness got its start as a cowardly form of resistance, a velvet rebellion led by smiley-face emoticons.
Sometimes they form a star or smiley face as they explode, but that's about as high-tech as it gets.
It started looking corny, a kind of smiley face before there were smiley faces.

British Dictionary definitions for smiley

smiley

/ˈsmaɪlɪ/

adjective

given to smiling; cheerful

depicting a smile: a smiley badge

noun

any of a group of symbols depicting a smile, or other facial expression, used in electronic mail

Word Origin and History for smiley

adj.

also smily, "inclined to smile," 1848, from smile (n.) + -y (2). Smiley-face (n.) is from 1981; as a computer icon from 1987.

Slang definitions & phrases for smiley

smiley

Related Terms

emoticon

smiley face

noun phrase

A computer ''emoticon''(:-), used to express happiness or approval: messages studded with smiley faces (1990s+ Computer)

smiley in Technology

emoticon