English

Noun

poraille ‎(uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Poor people; the poor.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)

In the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, the Friar is said to (selfishly and hypocritically) avoid poor people and only attend to the wealthy. He chooses "for to delen with no swich poraile / But al with riche, and selleres of vitaile."