[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

burly \bur"ly\ b^ur"ly^, a. oe. burlich strong,
   excellent; perh. orig. fit for a lady's bower, hence
   handsome, manly, stout. cf. bower.
   1. having a large, strong, or gross body; stout; lusty; --
      now used chiefly of human beings, but formerly of animals,
      in the sense of stately or beautiful, and of inanimate
      things that were huge and bulky. "burly sacks." --drayton.
      1913 webster

            in his latter days, with overliberal diet, he was
            somewhat corpulent and burly.         --sir t. more.
      1913 webster

            burly and big, and studious of his ease. --cowper.
      1913 webster

   2. coarse and rough; boisterous.
      1913 webster

            it was the orator's own burly way of nonsense.
                                                  --cowley.
      1913 webster
see also:
bower 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

burly
     adj : muscular and heavily built; "a beefy wrestler"; "had a tall
           burly frame"; "clothing sizes for husky boys"; "a
           strapping boy of eighteen"; "`buirdly' is a scottish
           term" syn: beefy, husky, strapping, buirdly
     also: burliest, burlier
see also:
beefy husky strapping buirdly burliest burlier 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

69 moby thesaurus words for "burly":
   able-bodied, adipose, athletic, beefy, big, big-bellied, bloated,
   blowzy, bosomy, brawny, broad-shouldered, buxom, chubby, chunky,
   corpulent, distended, dumpy, fat, fattish, fleshy, full, gross,
   heavy, heavyset, hefty, hippy, husky, imposing, large, lusty,
   meaty, muscle-bound, muscular, obese, overweight, paunchy, plump,
   podgy, portly, potbellied, pudgy, puffy, pursy, roly-poly, rotund,
   rugged, sinewy, square, squat, squatty, stalwart, stocky, stout,
   strapping, strong, sturdy, swollen, thewy, thick-bodied, thickset,
   top-heavy, tough, tubby, well-built, well-fed, well-knit, well-set,
   well-set-up, wiry

Burly >> B Words
Burly, definition of term: Burly
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