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Webster 1913 Edition
Purlieu
Pur′lieu
,Noun.
[Corrupted (by influence of
lieu
place) fr. OF. puralée
, poralée
(equiv. to LL. perambulatio
a survey of boundaries, originally, a going through); por
(L. pro
, confused, however, with L. per
through) + alée
. See Pro-
, and Alley
.] [Written also
pourlieu
.] 1.
Originally, the ground near a royal forest, which, having been unlawfully added to the forest, was afterwards severed from it, and disafforested so as to remit to the former owners their rights.
Then as a tiger, who by chance hath spied
In some
In some
purlieu
two gentle fawns at play. Milton.
2.
Hence, the outer portion of any place; an adjacent district; environs; neighborhood.
“The purlieus of St. James.”brokers had been incessantly plying for custom in the
purlieus
of the court. Macaulay.
Webster 1828 Edition
Purlieu
PURLIEU
,Noun.
Definition 2024
purlieu
purlieu
English
Noun
purlieu (plural purlieus or purlieux)
- (historical) The ground on the edges of a forest, especially when partly subject to the same forest laws concerning game hunting etc.
- The outskirts of any place; an adjacent district; the environs or neighborhood.
- 1886, Henry James, The Princess Casamassima.
- He seemed to wish to keep hold of him, and looked at him strangely, over his spectacles... when he learned that Hyacinth had taken a lodging not in their old familiar quarter but in the unexplored purlieus of Westminster.
- 1886, Henry James, The Princess Casamassima.