different between fleshy vs burly

English

Etymology

From Middle English fleisshy, fleischy, fleschi, equivalent to flesh +? -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fl??i/
• Rhymes: -??i

Adjective

fleshy (comparative fleshier or more fleshy, superlative fleshiest or most fleshy)

1. Of, related to, or resembling flesh.
2. (of a person) Having considerable flesh; plump.
   • 1908, Jack London, "The Heathen":

     He was a large fleshy man, weighing at least two hundred pounds, and he quickly became a faithful representation of a quivering jelly-mountain of fat.

   • 2009, Lisa Abend, "Google Earth Takes On the Prado's Masterworks," Time, 15 Jan.:

     It's hard to imagine why Flemish Renaissance artist Peter Paul Rubens would paint a blemish on the backside of one of the fleshy lovelies meant to represent beauty, charm and good cheer, but there's no denying that single red brushstroke in the midst of his central figure's creamy skin.

Usage notes

• Fleshy is not necessarily negative in connotation (as fat, for example) and may be used to describe men or women.

Synonyms

• (having considerable flesh): corpulent, full-figured, porky, pudgy, well-covered

Antonyms

• (having considerable flesh): bony, slender, slim

Translations

Anagrams

• shelfy

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b??li/

• Rhymes: -??(r)li

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 *b?rl?? (“noble, stately”, literally “bowerly”), equivalent to bower +? -ly; or from Old English *byrl?? (“high, raised”), from byre (“raised area, mound”), cognate with Old High German burl?h, purl?h (“lofty, elevated, high, exalted”), related to Old High German burjan (“to raise, lift, push up”). See burgeon.

Alternative forms

• bowerly (dialectal)

Adjective

burly (comparative burlier, superlative burliest)

1. (usually of a man) Large, well-built, and muscular.
   • 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.

2. (Britain, East End of London, slang) Great, amazing, unbelievable.

3. (US, slang, surf culture and/or Southern California) Of large magnitude, either good or bad, and sometimes both.

Translations

Etymology 2

burl +? -y

Adjective

burly (comparative more burly, superlative most burly)

1. Full of burls or knots; knotty.

Middle English

Adjective

burly

1. Alternative form of burely