Shirley
English
Pronunciation
Audio (UK) (file) - IPA(key): /ˈʃɜː(ɹ)li/
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)li
- Homophone: surely (some dialects)
Etymology 1
English place name from Old English sċīr (“county”) + lēah (“meadow”). Equivalent to shire + -ley (“lea”). More at shire, leigh.
Alternative forms
- (surname): Sherley, Shurley
Proper noun
Shirley
- An English habitational surname
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene iv], page 72:
- Hold vp they head, vile Scot, or thou art like / Neuer to hold it vp againe! the spirits / Of valiant Sherley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my Armes;
-
- (rare) A male given name transferred from the surname.
- 1921 Lucy Maud Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside, Chapter 2:
- Shirley Blythe was with Una Meredith and both were rather silent because such was their nature. Shirley was a lad of sixteen, sedate, sensible, thoughtful, full of a quiet humour.
- 1921 Lucy Maud Montgomery, Rilla of Ingleside, Chapter 2:
- A female given name transferred from the surname. Popular from the 1920s to the 1950s.
- 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XI, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], OCLC 84390265:
- Shirley Keeldar ( she had no Christian name but Shirley; her parents, who had wished to have a son, finding that, after eight years of marriage, Providence had granted them only a daughter, bestowed on her the same masculine family cognomen they would have bestowed on a boy, if with a boy they had been blessed) - - -
- 1951 Alice Tisdale Hobart, The Serpent-Wreathed Staff, Bobbs-Merrill, page 50:
- "Why a girl like you should be named Shirley is beyond me. You haven't a ruffle or a furbelow anywhere in your nature." "Is that meant for an insult?" she asked, flushing angrily. "No, it's just that it's incongruous. You are the 'give us this day our daily bread' sort of person. Shirley is party stuff."
-
- Various places in England:
- A village in Derbyshire Dales district, Derbyshire (OS grid ref SK2141).
- A suburb of the borough of Croydon, Greater London (OS grid ref TQ3565).
- A suburb of Southampton, Hampshire (OS grid ref SU4013).
- A suburb of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands (OS grid ref SP1278).
- Various places in the United States:
- A town in Van Buren County, Arkansas.
- An unincorporatedcommunity in Kings County, California.
- An unincorporatedcommunity in El Paso County, Colorado.
- An unincorporatedcommunity in McLean County, Illinois.
- A town in Hancock County and Henry County, Indiana.
- A town in Piscataquis County, Maine.
- A town and census-designated place in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
- An unincorporatedcommunity in Polk County, Minnesota.
- An unincorporatedcommunity in Washington County, Missouri.
- A hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York.
- A hamlet in Erie County, New York.
- An unincorporatedcommunity in Charles City County, Virginia.
- An unincorporatedcommunity in Tyler County, West Virginia.
- An unincorporatedcommunity in Brown County, Wisconsin.
- A suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand.
Derived terms
- Shirley card
Etymology 2
A pun on surely and the name Shirley; probably inspired by the 1980 comedy film Airplane!, which has the exchange: "Surely you can’t be serious." "I am serious — and don’t call me Shirley."
Adverb
Shirley (not comparable)
- (informal, humorous) surely
- 2001 February 18, Tim Hall, “Spilero 15/2”, in uk.media.radio.archers, Usenet:
- Shirley the pepper mills are whipped away by the peppier after use, so no danger there. But what about the candles?
-
Further reading
Shirley on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
- Hilyers
Tagalog
Etymology
Borrowed from English, a given name transferred from the habitational surname, from Old English scīr+lēah.
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: Shir‧ley
Proper noun
Shirley
- a female given name from English