burly
(redirected from burliest)Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus.
big and burly
Large, strong, and imposing in size and stature. I know that Mike looks big and burly, but he's one of the gentlest people I've ever met.
hurly-burly
A wild and chaotic situation. Boy, it was a real hurly burly in there once the kids started tearing into their Christmas presents.
hurly burly
A noisy confusion. To hurl is to throw, and “hurly burly” is based on the image of a mob throwing things around chaotically. The phrase appears in the opening scene of Shakespeare's Macbeth when the witches chant, “When shall we three meet again / In thunder, lightning, or in rain? / When the hurlyburly's done, / When the battle's lost and won.”