Dictionary

cliffy en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

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Etymology

Etymology tree English cliff Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English cliffy From cliff + -y.

Meanings

1. Abounding in cliffs.
   • Where did they all live? I wondered. My curiosity was soon destined to be gratified. Turning to the left the string of litters followed the cliffy sides of the crater for a distance of about half a mile, or perhaps a little less, and then halted. 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
   • 1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 176. There is naked Nature,—inhumanly sincere, wasting no thought on man, nibbling at the cliffy shore where gulls wheel amid the spray.
2. Characteristic of a cliff.
   • HAG [...] 1. A rock or cliff; an abrupt, cliffy prominence. 1900, Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary: F-M, page 14:

Forms

Relateds

cliff

Translations (1)

fi kallioinen (abounding in cliffs)

cliffy en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Meanings

1. (slang) A cliffhanger (dramatic stopping point in a story).
   • All your questions won't be answered in the first book. It may end on a cliffhanger that leads into book 2. It's a mild cliffy, but it's there none the less. 2016, Lexy Timms, No Rush:

Forms