Burly means large, strong and heavily built. A burly man, burly shoulders, burly and slow.
It is used almost entirely of men, and it describes bulk with strength in it rather than fat — a burly figure is solid. It appears constantly in reporting as shorthand for a bouncer or a minder. Note that the word once meant stately or noble, and that its origin is unknown.
1adjectiveburlyLarge, strong and heavily built.
“Two burly men carried the piano up the stairs.”
burly is a quality of build.
Middle English burly once meant stately or noble. Its ultimate origin is unknown.
Middle English
burly
English, today
burly
Built from
From Middle English burly, burely, borly, burlich, borlich, borlic (“tall, stately”), of unknown 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”), burgeon. However, Irish burla (“bundle, pack; burly person”) points to a different origin.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire