English

Alternative forms

• Mollie, Moll

Proper noun

Molly

1. A diminutive of Mary or, less often, Margaret.
   • 1866 Elizabeth Gaskell: Wives and Daughters: Chapter 6:

     "My name's Molly. It is an old-fashioned name, and I was christened Mary. But Papa likes Molly."

     "That's right. Keep to the good old fashions, dear."

     "Well, I must say I think Mary is prettier than Molly, and quite as old a name, too," said Mrs Hamley.

     "I think it was," said Molly, lowering her voice, and dropping her eyes, "because mamma was Mary, and I was called Molly when she lived."

   • 1928 Joyce Lankester Brisley: Milly-Molly-Mandy Stories. Chapter 1:

     But Mother and Father and Grandpa and Grandma and Uncle and Aunty couldn't very well call out "Millicent Margaret Amanda" every time they wanted her, so they shortened it to "Milly-Molly-Mandy" which is quite easy to say.

2. A female given name.

Noun

Molly ‎(countable and uncountable, plural Mollies)

1. (Canada, US) The crystalline or powdered form of MDMA.
2. (historical) A Molly Maguire.

Swedish

Etymology

From English Molly. First recorded as a Swedish name in 1806.

Proper noun

Molly

1. A female given name.

English

Noun

molly ‎(plural mollies)

1. (now chiefly Ireland) A woman or girl, especially of low status.
2. (slang) An effeminate male, a male homosexual.
3. (slang) Pure MDMA powder.
4. A mollemoke.
5. A female cat; a she-cat.
6. A molly bolt.

Derived terms

• mollycoddle

Etymology 2

From Mollienesia, an invalid taxonomic name for the genus, influenced by the personal name Molly

Noun

molly ‎(plural mollies)

1. A fish of the genus Poecilia, except for those known as guppies.

Translations

See also

• guppy