E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Cully.
A fop, a fool, a dupe. A contracted form of cullion, a despicable creature (Italian, coglione). Shakespeare uses the word two or three times, as “Away, base cullions!” (2 Henry VI., i. 3), and again in Taming of the Shrew, iv. 2—“And makes a god of such a cullion.” (Compare GULL.)
