ZebraWords.com - The Definition of 'Burly', Synonyms of 'Burly' & More on 'Burly'

1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)

burly
    adj 1: muscular and heavily built; "a beefy wrestler"; "had a
           tall burly frame"; "clothing sizes for husky boys"; "a
           strapping boy of eighteen"; "`buirdly' is a Scottish
           term" [syn: beefy, burly, husky, strapping,
           buirdly]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Burly \Bur"ly\ (b[^u]r"l[y^]), a. [OE. burlich strong,
   excellent; perh. orig. fit for a lady's bower, hence
   handsome, manly, stout. Cf. Bower.]
   1. Having a large, strong, or gross body; stout; lusty; --
      now used chiefly of human beings, but formerly of animals,
      in the sense of stately or beautiful, and of inanimate
      things that were huge and bulky. "Burly sacks." --Drayton.
      [1913 Webster]

            In his latter days, with overliberal diet, [he was]
            somewhat corpulent and burly.         --Sir T. More.
      [1913 Webster]

            Burly and big, and studious of his ease. --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Coarse and rough; boisterous.
      [1913 Webster]

            It was the orator's own burly way of nonsense.
                                                  --Cowley.
      [1913 Webster]

Thesaurus Results for burly:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

able-bodied, adipose, athletic, beefy, big, big-bellied, bloated, blowzy, bosomy, brawny, broad-shouldered, buxom, chubby, chunky, corpulent, distended, dumpy, fat, fattish, fleshy, full, gross, heavy, heavyset, hefty, hippy, husky, imposing, large, lusty, meaty, muscle-bound, muscular, obese, overweight, paunchy, plump, podgy, portly, potbellied, pudgy, puffy, pursy, roly-poly, rotund, rugged, sinewy, square, squat, squatty, stalwart, stocky, stout, strapping, strong, sturdy, swollen, thewy, thick-bodied, thickset, top-heavy, tough, tubby, well-built, well-fed, well-knit, well-set, well-set-up, wiry

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