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Added 5 October 2026

burly

/ˈbɜːli/ adjective

adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about burly at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Large, well-built, and muscular.
He’s a big, burly rugby player who works as a landscape gardener.
Great, amazing, unbelievable.
That goal was burly.
Of large magnitude, either good or bad, and sometimes both.
That wave was burly! (i.e. large, dangerous and difficult to ride)

adjective

Full of burls or knots; knotty.

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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