portly
pronunciation
How to pronounce portly in British English:
UK [ˈpɔ:tli]
How to pronounce portly in American English:
US [ˈpɔrtli]
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- Adjective:
- euphemisms for `fat'
Word Origin
- portly
- portly: see port
- portly (adj.)
- early 15c., "stately, dignified," from port (n.3) "bearing, carriage" + -ly (1). Meaning "stout" is first recorded 1590s.
Example
- 1. The portly , sometimes truculent trade unionist occupied the post for the five dangerous years after the second world war .
- 2. Goodson was a portly man who wrote novels in his spare time .
- 3. The doctor was a portly gentleman in a suit of black , with strings at his knees , and stockings below them .
- 4. Funny how many portly men you could see lovingly fingering these featherlight products , as if it is the heft of their group-set rather than their gut that slows them down .
- 5. She said she was selected by a somali shabab fighter she knew , brought to a house full of guns and handed off to a portly arab commander , one of the many foreigners fighting for the shabab .