burly

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See also: burley

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English burly, burely, borly, burlich, borlich, borlic (“tall, stately”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots burely, burly (“rough, stout, sturdy, strong”). Perhaps from Old English *būrlīċ (“noble, stately”, literally “bowerly”), equivalent to bower +‎ -ly; or from Old English *byrlīċ (“high, raised”), from byre (“raised area, mound”), cognate with Old High German burlīh, purlīh (“lofty, elevated, high, exalted”), related to Old High German burjan (“to raise, lift, push up”). See burgeon.

Alternative forms

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Adjective

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burly (comparative burlier, superlative burliest)

  1. (usually of a man) Large, well-built, and muscular.
    He’s a big, burly rugby player who works as a landscape gardener.
    • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 12.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 301:
      With no great disparity between them in point of years, they were, in every other respect, as unlike and far removed from each other as two men could well be. The one was soft-spoken, delicately made, precise, and elegant; the other, a burly square-built man, negligently dressed, rough and abrupt in manner, stern, and, in his present mood, forbidding both in look and speech.
    • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 2:
      She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had expected to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven, burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
    • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 432:
      Yossarian responded to the thought by slipping away stealthily from the police and almost tripped over the feet of a burly woman of forty hastening across the intersection guiltily, darting furtive, vindictive glances behind her toward a woman of eighty with thick, bandaged ankles doddering after her in a losing pursuit.
  2. (British, East End of London, slang) Great, amazing, unbelievable.
    That goal was burly.
    Kimi Räikkönen is a burly Formula 1 driver.
  3. (US, slang, surf culture and/or Southern California) Of large magnitude, either good or bad, and sometimes both.
    That wave was burly! (i.e. large, dangerous and difficult to ride)
    This hike is going to be burly, but worth it because there is good body surfing at that beach.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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burl +‎ -y

Adjective

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burly (comparative more burly, superlative most burly)

  1. Full of burls or knots; knotty.

See also

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Middle English

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Adjective

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burly

  1. Alternative form of burely
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