portly
Pronunciation Adjective
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Pronunciation Adjective
portly (comparative portlier, superlative portliest)
- Somewhat fat, pudgy, overweight. [from 15th c.]
- 1824, Washington Irving, Tales of a Traveller, Introduction:
- 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.
- 1913, P. G. Wodehouse, The Little Nugget, ch. 14:
- His portly middle section, rising beyond like a small hill, heaved rhythmically.
- 2011 July 6, Nick Carbone, "[http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2081550_2081554_2081578,00.html Top 10 Worst Fictional Camp Counselors]," 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.
- 1824, Washington Irving, Tales of a Traveller, Introduction:
- (now rare) Having a dignified bearing; handsome, imposing. [from 15th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.2:
- 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
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.2:
- See also Thesaurus:obese
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003