roly-poly
/rəʊlɪˈpəʊli
/adjective informal
(Of a person) having a round, plump appearance: a roly-poly young boy...
- An old lady with a roly-poly figure waddled her way over to me and gave me a friendly smile.
- Rick was getting out of the shotgun seat and a roly-poly man with glasses was getting out of the driver's seat.
- The roly-poly, laughing baby who, come to think of it, looks remarkably like a little Buddha.
Synonyms
chubby, plump, fat, stout, rotund, buxom, well upholstered, well covered, well padded, of ample proportions, ample, round, rounded, well rounded, full, fattish, dumpy, chunky, broad in the beam, portly, overweight, fleshy, paunchy, bulky, corpulent
informal tubby, pudgy, beefy, porky, blubbery, poddy
British informal podgy, fubsy
North American informal zaftig, corn-fed, lard-assed
archaic pursy
rare abdominous
noun
1 (also roly-poly pudding) [mass noun] British A pudding made of a sheet of suet pastry covered with jam or fruit, formed into a roll, and steamed or baked: a nice bit of jam roly-poly...
- The list of puddings included deep pan apple pie, jam roly-poly and treacle sponge.
- They will be cooking chicken rogan josh followed by apple and cinnamon roly-poly in the final.
- Formerly roly-poly pudding was boiled in a pudding cloth; but the skill of enclosing a pudding of this shape in a cloth has now mostly been lost.
2Australian A bushy tumbleweed.
- Several species, in particular a saltwort (Salsola kali, family Chenopodiaceae) which is able to grow away from saline habitats.
Origin
Early 17th century: fanciful formation from the verb roll.