lolly

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• Rhymes: -ɒli

Contraction of lollipop.

lolly (plural lollies)

1. A piece of hard candy on a stick; a lollipop.
   • 2004, Nigella Lawson, Feast: Food that Celebrates Life, unnumbered page,

     Trim the lolly sticks, so that you have a stem of about 3–4cm to stick into the cake, and then plunge the sticks of the foreshortened lollies into the cake so that the ghoulish faces leer out from their black-frosted graveyard.

2. (Britain, slang, uncountable) Money.
3. (Australia, New Zealand) Any confection made from sugar, or high in sugar content; a sweet, a piece of candy.
   • 1924, Frank George Carpenter, Australia, New Zealand and Some Islands of the South Seas, page 36,

     Leaving the Domain, I walked back to the hotel, noticing the queer signs by the way. One was “Lollies for Sale.” It was over the door of a confectioner′s store where all sorts of candies were displayed.

   • 2002, R.I.C. Publications, Primary Science, page 52,

     Organise the students into small groups. Send a letter home to the parents stating that the science lesson will involve students eating a small amount of lollies. Check which students are allowed to eat lollies. Students with diabetes will only be able to observe or they could bring their own ‘special’ sweets from home.

   • 2008, Markus Zusak, The Book Thief, unnumbered page,

     He looked straight into Frau Diller′s spectacled eyes and said, ‘Mixed lollies, please.’

     Frau Diller smiled. […] ‘Here,’ she said, tossing a single lolly onto the counter. ‘Mix it yourself.’

4. (archaic) A lump.

• ice lolly
• lolly scramble

Shortened from loblolly (“gruel”).

lolly (uncountable)

1. (Canada) Snow or fine ice floating on water.
   • 1867 November 25, “Winter mail service across the Straits of Northumberland from Prince Edward Island to the mainland of New Brunswick”, in The American Stamp Mercury, volume 1, number 2, page 9:

     The water was covered with what they term "lolly," of "slob" — i. e., very small pieces of ice and snow mixed together, making the surface the consistency of pea soup.

   • 1889, M.M., “On seals and savages”, in The Nineteenth Century, volume 25, number 146, pages 520–21:

     Accidents of course happen from time to time, and men often go through the ‘lolly’ or miss their footing and come in for a cold bath, which, considering their filthy condition, may not be altogether an unmitigated evil