Burly

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈbɜːli/

Definitions

1. Having a strong and heavily built physique that conveys a sense of power and durability
2. Possessing a robust and muscular appearance that suggests physical strength and resilience
3. Exhibiting a solid and heavily muscled body that indicates great strength

Etymology: Burly began as a word for stateliness, not brawn. Middle English "burly" meant "tall, stately," and it carried a sense of grandeur before it ever described a heavyset man. Scottish speakers kept a close cousin, "burely," meaning "rough, stout, sturdy," which shows the sense of solid strength was already present in the wider family of words. The word's ancestry is uncertain. One proposal links it to an Old English form meaning "noble, stately," which may have been built on a root meaning "raised area" or "mound," the same root that gives the modern "burgeon," to swell and sprout up. That link would make "burly" a word about rising height that gradually shifted toward bulk. A competing idea points to Irish "burla," meaning "bundle" or "burly person," which would suggest a completely different origin. Because neither account can be settled, the history of the word remains open.

Synonyms: sturdy, brawny, muscular, robust, heavyset

Antonyms: slender, thin, weak, fragile, delicate