“Cully” was a term in early modern English cant, or underworld slang, for a gullible victim. It could refer broadly to a simpleton, but it often suggests a person targeted for money, theft, or sexual exploitation. In Jonathan Swift’s poem, the word portrays a passing man as potential prey for Corinna, emphasizing the poem’s harsh, satirical view of urban vice and deception.

“Cully” belongs to the cant vocabulary associated with thieves, confidence tricksters, prostitutes, and other figures in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century city life. It is closely related in meaning to gull, dupe, fool, and mark. A “mark” is a more modern term for a person selected as the target of a scam or theft. The word could sometimes mean simply a fellow or companion in older usage, but its strongly negative sense—an easily cheated person—is the relevant one in Swift’s poem. Readers should not confuse “cully” with the modern verb “cull,” meaning to select or gather.