silliness (silines)

[A mod. form of seel i ne (as silly for seely ).] The quality of being silly; foolishne ; sensele ne ; weakne of understanding; extreme simplicity; absurd or contemptible folly. It is silline to live when to live is torment. Shak., Othello, i. 3. 309. sillite (sil'it), n. [ Greene, Alphonsus, i. Such therefore as knew the poor and silly estate wherein they [the apostles] had lived could not but won Hooker , Eccles. Polity, iii. 8. It is silly sooth, And dallies with the innocence of love. Shak . , T. N., ii. 4. 47. 3. Simple-hearted; guilele ; ingenuous; innocent. [Archaic.] Provided that you do no outrages On silly women or poor pa engers. Shak., T. G. of V., iv. 1. 72. But yet he could not keep,. Here with the shepherds and the silly sheep. IMG:content-1069.png:[blocks in formation] She, silly queen, with more than love's good will, Forbade the boy. Shak., Pa ionate Pilgrim, 1. 123. What am I? The silly people take me for a saint. Tennyson, St. Simeon Stylites. 6. Foolish, as an epithet of contempt; characterized by weakne or folly; manifesting want of judgment or common sense; stupid or unwise: as, a silly coxcomb; a silly book; silly conduct. This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard. Shak ., M. N. D., v. 1. 212. From most silly novels we can at least extract a laugh. George Eliot , Silly Novels. 7. Fatuous; imbecile; mentally weak to the verge of idiocy. [Scotch.] Na, na, Davie 's no just like other folk, puir fallow; but he's no sae silly as folk tak him for. Scott , Waverley, lxiv. 8. Weak in body; not in good health; sickly; weakly. [Scotch.] To pleise baith, and eise baith, This silly sickly man. Cherrie and Slae , st. 108. (Jamie son.) =Syn. 5. Dull , etc. See simple . - 6. Absurd , Silly , Foolish , etc. See absurd. II. n.; pl. sillies (-iz). A silly person: as, what a silly you are! [Colloq.] IMG:content-1070.jpg:[blocks in formation] . are always hoping without sense or reason. Poor sillies , they have wind on the brain, and dream while they are awake. Spurge on, John Ploughman's Talk, p. 101. silly how (sil'i-hou), n. [Also dial. sillyhew ; lit. 'lucky cap' (a child born with a caul on the head being considered by midwives especially lucky), silly , 'lucky, happy (see silly ), + * ho , + * how , a dial. form of houve.] A membrane that in some cases covers the head of child when borna caul See involution , 4. [Old Eng. and Scotch.] Great conceits are raised of the involution or membra nous covering, commonly called the silly - how , that sometimes is found about the heads of children upon their birth. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 23.