telly

«telly» in Mova's school dictionary: a television set — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (the telly, tellies — UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ, informal)

meaning for a pupil

1) (informal, UK) Telly is a television set. tree →

2) (informal, UK) Telly is the programmes shown on television. tree →

sense in the lessons

It is the everyday British, Irish, Australian and New Zealand word for TV. Children say «What's on the telly?» or «Can I watch telly?» In stories it shows a casual, friendly voice. Phrases: watch telly, on the telly, turn the telly on/off, telly addict.

examples

• Can I watch telly after my homework? tree →
• What's on the telly tonight? tree →
• Nan fell asleep in front of the telly. tree →
• Turn the telly off and come for tea. tree →
• We saw our school on the telly! tree →
• We bought a new telly for the living room. tree →
• I watched 2 hours of telly on Saturday and 3 on Sunday, 5 in all. tree →

note

Informal, short for television. Plural «tellies». In the USA people say «TV». It is fine in speech but should be «television» in formal writing.

In the corpora

• By eight o'clock Mum is asleep on the sofa with the telly still on.
• Mum switches the telly off, sits down and pulls her in.
• Leo's big brother said Leo broke the telly, and Leo got grounded.
• Loud noise near a pet's bed, like drums or a blaring telly, can make it avoid you.
• In Middlesbrough the telly dies right in the middle of Lorcan's cartoons, and the lights go with it.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «telly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.