A nickname for the Royal Marines in the British Navy. Originally all soldiers carried on board a British warship were known as jollies, a ‘tame jolly’ being a militiaman and a ‘royal jolly’ a marine, but later the name was only applied to marines.‘'E was scrapin’ the paint from off of 'er plates an' I sez to ‘im, “Oo are you?”‘Sez 'e, “I'm a Jolly—'er Majesty's Jolly—soldier an’ sailor too!”'(R. Kipling, Barrack-Room Ballads, 1896)
(R. Kipling, Barrack-Room Ballads, 1896)
From: ‘jollies’ in The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea »
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