Forms: 3 borli, 4–5 borelich, burlich, -lych(e, (north.) burely, 6 boorelie, -lye, bourlie, -ly, Sc. 5 buyrlie, 6 buirlie, 7 borely, 4– burly. (See also BOWERLY, BUIRDLY.) [ME. borlich, northern burli. Usually identified with OHG. burlîh, MHG. burlîch exalted, lofty, stately, f. *bur- cogn. w. OHG. burjan to lift up + -lîh = -LY. If this be so, the word must have existed in OE. or ON.; but it is unrecorded, and no plausible etymon for the first element has yet been found in either of those langs. The phonology is also difficult, for the ME. borli, borelych, 16th c. borely, boorelye, northern 15th c. burely, Sc. buyrlie, buirlie, require a ME. *bōrli, OE. type *bórlic. The spelling burly was originally only northern. The dial. BOWERLY would seem from the sense to be a variant, but it is difficult to reconcile phonologically with the ME. forms.]
A. adj.
† 1. Stately, dignified, of noble or imposing presence or appearance. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8541. Salamon Was king sittand in his fader tron, He was a borli [v.r. burli] bachelere.
c. 1375. Barbour, Troy-bk., I. 295. Þe commowns hade gret ferly Of sa buyrly a companye.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2191. Grete wele my ladye þe qwene … And alle þe burliche birdes þat to hir boure lengez.
1664. Floddan F., I. 8. A Talbot brave, a borely tike. Ibid., III. 25. A burly band of warlike wights.
absol. c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., I. He … bede the burlyche his brand, that burneschit was briȝt.
† b. poet. Of things: Goodly, excellent, noble. Obs. (As an epithet of spear, brand, the meaning may have been ‘stout’: cf. BOISTEROUS.)
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1488. With mony a borlych best al of brende golde.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2224. A denez ax nwe dyȝt, þe dynt with [t]o ȝelde With a borelych bytte.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., xliii. Greselle … wos the burlokke[st] blonke, ther euyr bote brede.
c. 1450. Rauf Coilȝear, 190. Within that burelie bygging. Ibid., 266. Ane burely bed was wrocht in that wane, Closit with Courtingis, and cumlie cled.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (1858), I. 7. He semit weill to weir ane buirlie brand.
1873. Symonds, Grk. Poets, v. 124. My wealth’s a burly spear and brand.
2. Stout, sturdy, massively built, corpulent; of large body or trunk.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 766. A won in a mote … loken vnder boȝez, Of mony borelych bole.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3769. Tantelus … was a tulke hoge, Borly of brede.
1513. More, Hist. Rich. III., Wks. 36/2. Sommewhat corpulente and boorelye, and nathelesse not vncomelye.
1596. Spenser, Astrophel, Elegy 7. There might you see the burly Beare.
1709. Addison, Tatler, No. 116, ¶ 1. She had a Mind to look as big and burly as other Persons of her Quality.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, I. 596. Burly oaks projecting from the line.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., vii. 133. He singled out the burliest knight he saw.
† b. Of a garment, or wool: Thick, heavy. Obs. (Cf. BURL sb.)
1651. Mercurius Politicus, 1153. Casting his Eye upon the Executioner, he [Earl of Derby] said, Thy Coat is so burly, thou will never hit right.
1805. Luccock, Nat. Wool, 88. The sheep of England, when transported to Jamaica, yield the same kind of ‘burly fleece.’
3. ‘Big’; domineering, bluff. arch.
1592. Sylvester, Triumph Faith, II. 25. The Circumsised Crew Of Cabalists and burly Talmudists.
1645. Milton, Tetrach. (1851), 180. Erasmus … was wrote against by som burly standard Divine.
1648. Jos. Beaumont, Psyche, V. 224 (L.). When a burly Tempest rolls his Pride About the World.
1864. J. H. Newman, Apol. (1885), Pref. 16. They [Englishmen] are as generous as they are hasty and burly.
4. Comb., as burly-boned, -headed, adjs.
1590. Almond for Parrat (1845), 12. These are nothing in comparison of his auncient burlibond adiunctes.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse, 25. Unweildie burliboand soldiery.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. x. 60. Cut … out the burly bon’d Clowne in chines of Beefe.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. I. IV. iv. 103. Destiny has work for that swart burly-headed Mirabeau.
B. adv. Sturdily, stoutly.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 11059. So burly þo big brusshit togedur.
