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Portly vs Burly - What's the difference?

portly | burly | Synonyms |

As adjectives the difference between portly and burly

is that portly is somewhat fat, pudgy, overweight while burly is large, well-built, and muscular.

portly

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Somewhat fat, pudgy, overweight.
  • * 1824 , , Tales of a Traveller , Introduction:
    • Indeed, the poor man has grown ten times as nervous as ever, since he has discovered, on such good authority, who the stout gentleman was. . . . He has anxiously endeavored to call up a recollection of what he saw of that portly personage; and has ever since kept a curious eye on all gentlemen of more than ordinary dimensions.
  • * 1913 , , The Little Nugget , ch. 14:
    • His portly middle section, rising beyond like a small hill, heaved rhythmically.
  • * 2011 July 6, Nick Carbone, " Top 10 Worst Fictional Camp Counselors," Time (retrieved 8 May 2014):
    • In Heavyweights , Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller) is a fitness guru who installs himself as the über-buff leader of Camp Hope, with the goal of helping portly youngsters shed their saggy stomachs and thunder thighs.
  • *1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.2:
  • *:Portly his person was, and much increast
    • Through his Heroicke grace and honourable gest.
  • * 1728 , , "A Dialogue between Mad Mullinix and Timothy":
    • Be studious well to imitate
    My portly motion, mien, and gait

    Usage notes

    * When used to refer to someone who is overweight, portly'' is a less harsh term than ''fat .

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * portliness

    See also

    *

    burly

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (dialectal)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • (usually, of a man) Large, well-built, and muscular.
    • He's a big, burly rugby player who works as a landscape gardener.
  • *
    • She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had thought 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.
  • (slang) Originating from the east end of London, England. An expressive term to mean something is good, awesome, amazing, unbelievable. e.g That goal was burly, or Räikkönen is a burly Formula 1 driver.
  • (slang) Originating from surfer culture and/or Southern California. An expressive term to mean something is 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.