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Burly

//ˈbɜːli// adj, slang

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Large, well-built, and muscular. usually

    "He’s a big, burly rugby player who works as a landscape gardener."

  2. 2
    Full of burls or knots; knotty.
  3. 3
    Great, amazing, unbelievable. British, slang

    "That goal was burly."

  4. 4
    Of large magnitude, either good or bad, and sometimes both. US, slang

    "That wave was burly! (i.e. large, dangerous and difficult to ride)"

Adjective
  1. 1
    muscular and heavily built wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”), English burgeon. However, Irish burla (“bundle, pack; burly person”) points to a different origin.

Etymology 2

burl + -y

See also for "burly"

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