Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Large; stout; burly.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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I don't everyways like Missus Tresize, but she's a bowerly woman an 'nimble for her age -- which can't be forty, not by a year or two.
Corporal Sam and Other Stories Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch 1903
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Mrs Pengelly was a bowerly woman, and traded in lollipops.
Nicky-Nan, Reservist Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch 1903
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a braave, bowerly maid you'm grawin ', sure' nough!
Lying Prophets Eden Phillpotts 1911
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"Lord!" he exclaimed, "but that's a poor lookout for such a bowerly maid as you be!
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XVI., December, 1880. Various
qms commented on the word bowerly
Bowerly is very lightly documented. It seems to be a variant of burly in some dialect in England. Curiously, all the usage examples supplied apply the adjective to women. It may be one of those words like catty, that we assume to be a description of female behavior, or bastard, which is an epithet restricted to males, although in neither case does the word's root meaning imply such a limit. Bowerly does denote impressive size but does not seem especially pejorative.
March 31, 2015
qms commented on the word bowerly
Retreat was more kindly than cowardly;
From "bower" he guessed wee and flowery.
His hopeful surmise
Was dashed by her size.
She's no dainty bud if she's bowerly.
March 31, 2015