portly

From an archaic sense of port (“manner in which a person carries himself; bearing; deportment; carriage”) +‎ -ly.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔːtli/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɹtli/, /ˈpoʊɹtli/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpoːtliː/

portly (comparative portlier, superlative portliest)

1. Somewhat fat, pudgy, overweight.
   • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Introduction”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. ), Philadelphia, Pa.: H C Carey & I 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.

2. (now rare) Having a dignified bearing; handsome, imposing.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: 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

• When used to refer to someone who is overweight, portly is a less harsh term than fat.

• See also Thesaurus:obese

• portliness

• “portly”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• protyl, tropyl