Burly \Bur"ly\ (b[^u]r"l[y^]), 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.

In his latter days, with overliberal diet, [he was] somewhat corpulent and burly. --Sir T. More.

Burly and big, and studious of his ease. --Cowper.

2. Coarse and rough; boisterous.

It was the orator's own burly way of nonsense. --Cowley.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)