An archaic or dialect word for a dog, especially a sheepdog or farm dog with a dark coat.
From Old English 'col' meaning coal or dark coloring, combined with a diminutive suffix. The word is related to the modern dog breed 'collie,' which likely derives from the same root.
The word 'colley' appears in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' but has almost vanished from English—yet it lives on in the dog breed 'Collie,' making it a linguistic ghost that only dog lovers recognize.
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