portly
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From an archaic sense of port (“manner in which a person carries himself; bearing; deportment; carriage”) + -ly.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɔːtli/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɔɹtli/, /ˈpoʊɹtli/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈpoːtliː/
Adjective
portly (comparative portlier, superlative portliest)
- Somewhat fat, pudgy, overweight. [from 15th c.]
- 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Introduction”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC:
- Indeed, the poor man has grown ten times as nervous as ever, since he has discovered, on such good authority, who the stout gentleman was. . . . He has anxiously endeavored to call up a recollection of what he saw of that portly personage; and has ever since kept a curious eye on all gentlemen of more than ordinary dimensions.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 32, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 151:
- In the length he attains, and in his baleen, the Fin-back resembles the right whale, but is of a less portly girth, and a lighter colour, approaching to olive.
- 1913, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 14, in The Little Nugget:
- His portly middle section, rising beyond like a small hill, heaved rhythmically.
- 2011 July 6, Nick Carbone, “Top 10 Worst Fictional Camp Counselors”, in Time, retrieved 8 May 2014:
- In Heavyweights, Tony Perkis (Ben Stiller) is a fitness guru who installs himself as the über-buff leader of Camp Hope, with the goal of helping portly youngsters shed their saggy stomachs and thunder thighs.
- (now rare) Having a dignified bearing; handsome, imposing. [from 15th c.]
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
- He ſends this Souldans daughter rich and braue,
To be my Queene and portly Empereſſe, […]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Portly his person was, and much increast
Through his Heroicke grace and honourable gest.
- 1728, Jonathan Swift, A Dialogue between Mad Mullinix and Timothy:
- Be studious well to imitate
My portly motion, mien, and gait
Usage notes
- When used to refer to someone who is overweight, portly is a less harsh term than fat.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:obese
Derived terms
Translations
euphemism for fat
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See also
- “portly”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
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