Merriam-Webster on 'Dilly dilly:' It's a real word

If you've watched commercials on television at any point over the past six months, you've probably seen an odd one featuring a medieval king, queen and their subjects raising their beers in an enthusiastic toast: "Dilly dilly!"

The wildly popular series of Bud Light ads has racked up millions of views on YouTube and spawned a new rallying cry for beer drinkers everywhere.
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And because nothing can truly be declared a cultural phenomenon until the dictionary weighs in, Merriam-Webster gave their two cents on Twitter: "dilly" is a real word, and it refers to something that is remarkable or outstanding.



"A dilly is delightful, and that's not a coincidence. The noun comes from an obsolete adjective dilly that means 'delightful,' and that likely came about by some nipping and tucking of the word delightful itself," Merriam-Webster said on its website.

In other uses, the word can refer to a horse-drawn wagon or cart, a duck or a daffodil when used as a noun. In Australian English, it is also used as an adjective to describe something silly or foolish.
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It should come as no shock to Sunday funday lovers everywhere, but Merriam-Webster said it sees a spike in searches for the curious word "pretty much every Sunday." The spike could also be related to Bud Light's advertising during NFL telecasts, some social media users speculated.



Bud Light raised a bottle to Merriam-Webster's revelation with a simple tweet: "Knowledge is power. #DillyDilly"