collie
pronunciation
How to pronounce collie in British English:
UK [ˈkɒli]
How to pronounce collie in American English:
US [ˈkɑli]
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- Noun:
- a silky-coated sheepdog with a long ruff and long narrow head developed in Scotland
Word Origin
- collie
- collie: see coal
- collie (n.)
- 1650s, possibly from dialectal coaly "coal-black," the color of some breeds (compare colley, "sheep with black face and legs," attested from 1793; Middle English colfox, "coal-fox," a variety of fox with tail and both ears tipped with black; and colley, Somerset dialectal name for "blackbird"). Or from Scandinavian proper name Colle, which is known to have been applied to dogs in Middle English ("Ran Colle our dogge, and Talbot, and Gerlond" [Chaucer]); or perhaps a convergence of the two.
Example
- 1. I can 't even make a collie stay .
- 2. Just before he went out , he squatted down to pet the collie , who acknowledged the attention with several sloppy licks along his arms .
- 3. Of course not every border collie has to work with sheep .
- 4. Border collie did you know ?
- 5. I 'm running through fields of alfalfa with my collie , rex .