Studley

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Informal and chiefly British, describing a man who is handsome, athletic, and attractive in a muscular or virile way ; a village in North Yorkshire, England, known for its nearby historic estate and gardens
2. Slang for a good-looking, strapping man with an athletic, masculine appeal ; the name of a small English village in North Yorkshire near a famous royal park
3. Used colloquially of a fit, handsome, rugged fellow who draws admiration ; also a rural English settlement in North Yorkshire lying close to a noted landscaped estate

Etymology: "Studley" is a place name before it is anything else. It combines Old English "stōd", meaning an enclosure for keeping horses, with "lēah", a woodland clearing or glade. A stud farm and a clearing in the trees: the same stud that gives us the breeding farm is at the root of this place-name, which is the sort of place a horse-keeper might have fenced in. The adjective is a modern extension of that name. The sense "very attractively muscular" plays on the stud, the stallion, an animal prized for its physique, so a man described as studley is being compared, half-jokingly, to a prize horse. The image of a horse's powerful build has been transferred to a human body.

Synonyms: stylish, dashing, smart

Antonyms: dowdy, scruffy