burley

B3U1R1L1E1Y4
/ˈbɜː(ɹ)li/

noun

A tobacco grown mainly in Kentucky, used in making cigarettes.

Similar
Less commonFirst used late 19th c.Scrabble 11Word of the Day · Oct 25, 2022

Meanings

burley1

nounburley (countable and uncountable, plural burleys)

plural burleys · alternative berley

  1. UScountableuncountableA tobacco grown mainly in Kentucky, used in making cigarettes.First known use late 19th c.

    The price received by farmers at the auctions for burley has decreased, other conditions being about average, around 1.45 cents for each 10-million-pound increase in the production of burley

    1952, Glenn Leroy Johnson, Burley Tobacco Control Programs, page 59
  2. AustraliaNew ZealandcountableuncountablefishingBlood and offal used by fishermen to attract fish.

    Fish will swim up your burley trail looking for the source which should be where your baits are placed, instead of dumping a heap of burley at once where the fish will feed on it quickly and move on.

    2018, Jacks Boric, “Fishing with Burley”, in Shimano Fishing Oceania

    Synonyms: chum

burley2

adjective

alternative berley

  1. Burlesque.

    It can vary anywhere from burley (burlesque) to Phi Beta Kappa. […]

    2018 June 13, Brian Aldiss, Harry Harrison, Hell's Cartographers, Courier Dover Publications, →ISBN, page 71
    2 more examples

    Burley shows came to Times Square after vaudeville started its decline, and took over many of the darkened old theaters. The Minsky family had become synonymous with burlesque beginning in its earliest days, was hugely profitable.

    2004 August 12, Vicki Gold Levi, Steven Heller, Times Square Style: Graphics from the Great White Way, Princeton Architectural Press, →ISBN

    The Western Vaudeville Managers' Association (WVMA) and the Orpheum soon merged. [...] opined, "that the top all-around artist of today is Jim Barton, who was a burley comic, a skater, a storyteller, a dancer, a singer,[…]"

    2007, Frank Cullen, Florence Hackman, Donald McNeilly, Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 74

Burley3

proper noun
  1. A village and civil parish in New Forest district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU2103).
  2. A small village and civil parish (without a council) in Rutland, England (OS grid ref SK8810).
  3. A suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE2780).
  4. A civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire; see Burley in Wharfedale.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounBlood and offal used by fishermen to attract fish.

Similar
Also see

Origin

burley · noun

Unknown. Compare the personal name Burley.

Full word history & related roots →

Burley · proper noun

  1. Old Englishburh“burg”
  2. EnglishBurley

From Old English burh (“burg”) + lēah (“wood, clearing”).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with burley

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

burley. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burley

MLA

“burley.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burley. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “burley,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/burley.

Source: burley on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.