crocodilly

English

Etymology 1

From crocodile +‎ -y (diminutive suffix).

Noun

crocodilly (plural crocodillies)

  1. (colloquial or childish) A crocodile.
    • 1977 January, Bernard Nietschmann, quoting Seymore Robinson, “A Naturalist at Large: The Nicaraguan Skin Connection”, in Natural History, volume LXXXVI, number 1, New York, N.Y.: American Museum of Natural History, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 30, column 2:
      Mostly they is crocodilly but some be alligator that favor the crocodilly. Right now the place have a high scent but don’t let these animals worry you none, Mr. Bernard. I’m gon’a fumigate this place and paint it up, pretty, pretty.
    • 2000, Stephen Bly, chapter 3, in Hidden Treasure (The Skinners of Goldfield; 2), Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, →ISBN, page 81:
      “Mama, someone’s knocking at the back door,” Tommy-Blue called out. / Everyone in the room paused to listen. / Everyone except one. “I’m a crocodilly!” Punky squealed. / “Shhh, Punky . . . listen!” Corrie and Dola cautioned at the same time.
    • 2007, Tanith Lee, “Dinosaur and Dinner-Saw”, in Piratica III: The Family Sea; Being: The Gallant Tale of a Fearless Heroine and a Fatal Secret, London: Hodder Children’s Books, →ISBN, act 1 (Audition), pages 51–52:
      Only Walt, who with the others had by then arrived, wouldn’t eat the Callaloo Stew with Frizzled Chicken. ‘You don’t eat your friends with a knife and spoon,’ he explained with dignity. / ‘He’d never eat a crocodilly neither,’ supposed Cuth.
    • 2009, Tracy Chevalier, “The lightning that signalled my greatest happiness”, in Remarkable Creatures, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 321:
      “Don’t know. One of them turtles, maybe.” / “A plesie?” I said. “Are you sure?” / Davy shifted from one foot to the other. “Well, it could be a crocodilly. I never knowed the difference.”
    • 2011, Scott Evans, “The Crocodile”, in Green Seasons, San Francisco, Calif.: Phyllis Scott Enterprises, →ISBN, page 176:
      “We used rocks and bottles, but could not kill the crocodilly.” / “Yeah. They’re thick-skinned bastards.”

Etymology 2

From crocodile +‎ -y (adjectival suffix).

Adjective

crocodilly (comparative more crocodilly, superlative most crocodilly)

  1. Alternative spelling of crocodiley.
    • 1896 July, J. Lawson, “The Kindly Crocodile”, in The Gentleman’s Magazine, volume CCLXXXI, number 1987, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 58:
      Kindly affectioned and unselfish to the bitter end, did the dying saurian once again lift up his crocodilly voice, now faint and tinny with the hollowness of dissolution, and cry, “Avaunt, good Saracen, avaunt! Bide further afield, lest peradventure, in the tantrums of death, I cleave thy skull with my scaly tail. But, oh! for the love of Him that made us both, speak no more so despitefully of crocodile tears”—and he wept aloud.
    • 1982, Babette Cole, Nungu and the Crocodile (picturemacS)‎[1], London: Macmillan Children’s Books, published 1985, →ISBN:
      I love your lovely slender neck / And legs so slim and tall, / Because I’ve only scaly ones / And not a neck at all. / And if you will not marry me / (The worst of all my fears) / I’ll waste away and cry a sea / Of crocodilly tears.
    • 2015 June 18, canaldrifter, “The Buggrance Factor”, in uk.rec.sheds‎[2] (Usenet), archived from the original on 25 April 2025:
      It is amazing how hook-up leads and jump leads can tangle, even mate with each other, no matter how carefully you coil them and stow them away. Anyfing wiv a crocodilly clip on t'end comes alive and grabs mouthfuls of cable in any order or fashion, that takes hours to unravel.
    • 2016, Arno Schmidt, translated by John E[dwin] Woods, “Book v. Franziska⹀Nameh”, in Bottom’s Dream, Victoria, Tex.: Dalkey Archive Press, →ISBN, marginal note, page 736:
      (You remember? –:›Crocodilly tears‹?
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