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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
portly
adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ the portly figure of General von Hindenburg
▪ The bishop was a dignified, portly man, with thinning white hair.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As they leaned against a red brick wall, a portly prison system official swabbed at the sweat trickling into his collar.
▪ But then she also spends some time persuading the audience to laugh at her own idiosyncrasies and rather portly shape.
▪ Dewey himself campaigned with the portly dignity of an incumbent, while Truman screeched and kicked like an outsider.
▪ George Shultz, the bluff and portly secretary of state, evidently thought much the same.
▪ He was a portly man, red-faced and always panting.
▪ He was amiable, grizzle-haired and portly, with a wide smile.
▪ The lawyer was a tall, portly man with a snub nose, a square chin, and a short neck.
▪ Those 29 words sealed the portly politician's fate.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Portly

Portly \Port"ly\, a. [From Port demeanor.]

  1. Having a dignified port or mien; of a noble appearance; imposing.

  2. Bulky; corpulent. ``A portly personage.''
    --Dickens.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
portly

early 15c., "stately, dignified," from port (n.3) "bearing, carriage" + -ly (1). Meaning "stout" is first recorded 1590s.

Wiktionary
portly

a. 1 Somewhat fat, pudgy, overweight. (from 15th c.) 2 (context now rare English) Having a dignified bearing; handsome, imposing. (from 15th c.)

WordNet
portly
  1. adj. euphemisms for `fat'; "men are portly and women are stout" [syn: stout]

  2. [also: portliest, portlier]

Usage examples of "portly".

A rather portly woman passing by saw her apparently sobbing into a towel and stormed over with a couple of similarly-indignant friends to ask in a rather accusatory tone if everything was alright, already glaring daggers at me.

With one of his customary sighs, a helpless expression that he thought he seemed to be making far too often these days, the portly master moved off to find the errant artillerist, taking with him a second-year student to replace the man.

Heron pushed his chair brusquely aside and strode across the narrow room deliberately facing the portly figure of de Batz, who with head slightly inclined on one side, his small eyes narrowed till they appeared mere slits in his pockmarked face, was steadily and quite placidly contemplating this inhuman monster who had this very day been given uncontrolled power over hundreds of thousands of human lives.

He saw the ladies and child huddled on the floor, a portly older man in a loud suit curled up in a ball on one seat and a skinny, bespectacled man in an expensive suit nervously fingering a pair of canes by the far window.

As luck had it, Mona was at that moment outmatched by a very portly dowager who entered the lobby.

Lord George Pinkney might be a portly fellow of advanced years, but he was not unattractive.

The Shadow also shook hands with Fitzhugh Salter, the curator, a middle-aged man of portly proportions, chubby-faced, and of retiring disposition.

As the portly, white-haired surgeon entered with a bustle of importance, Gabby caught a glimpse of Stivers and Mrs.

The only new arrival was a portly, red-faced man in a stripy suit with a brown hat on the back of his head.

Alleyne gazed upon the scene--the portly velvet-clad official the knot of hard-faced archers with their hands to the bridles of their horses, the thief with his arms trussed back and his doublet turned down upon his shoulders.

He had all but relaxed when, turning from Lady Chatham, they found themselves facing a large, rather portly gentleman with florid features.

Dashing for the door to the outer office, the portly financier ripped it open, to see Atlee entering with Pelwin.

Superficially, it would have seemed, their presence could be more than justified, but as the pilot had firmly stated that he had no intention of setting his Chinook down in floodwaters and the experts, portly gentlemen all, had indicated that they had no intention of descending by winch or rope ladder only to be swept away, it was difficult to see how their presence could be justified.

The hotelkeeper, a portly Dane named Friebourg, had told Martin that if he could saddle the colt in the back field he could ride him.

First, Cedric Canderre was a merrymaker of great reputation, a portly, jolly man with an appetite for all of the finer things in life and the excesses they could lead to.