purlieu

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“
Surely, though we place hell under earth, the devil's walk and purlieu is about it: men speak too popularly who place it in those flaming mountains, which to grosser apprehensions represent hell.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An outlying or neighboring area.
  2. noun Outskirts; the environs.
  3. noun A place that one frequents.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (47)

  • Such regained forest property was called a "purlewe" (or as it was later spelled, "purlieu"), which derives from the Anglo-French word for "perambulation." —  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
  • Up Sunset Boulevard, we crawl past the doorway to the Rockwalk, flick a left at Chateau Marmont (where John Belushi died), pass the purlieu of Beverly Hills, then enter the glitz of Rodeo Drive, where oestrogen levels surge as the girls catch sight of the shops. —  The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed
  • What a lovely moving away / moving in present! purlieu | 11 Mar —  Drowned In Sound // Feed
  • Oh, and Rites Of Spring and Embrace and Quicksand and so on are all essential, but they're more keeping with the origins of the style and have sod all to do with Deja Entendu. purlieu | 11 Mar —  Drowned In Sound // Feed
  • I missed them live last year and am kicking myself still (see also: These Arms Are Snakes and a billion other good bands). purlieu | 11 Mar —  Drowned In Sound // Feed
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English purlewe, piece of land on the edge of a forest, probably alteration (influenced by Old French lieu, place) of porale, purale, royal perambulation, from Old French porale, from poraler, to traverse : por-, forth (from Latin prō-; see pro-1) + aler, aller, to go; see alley1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also purlue, purluy; an altered form, simulating French lieu, a place (see lieu), of purlie, purly, purley, properly land which, having been part of a royal forest, has been severed from it by perambulation or survey, from Old French pourallee, puralee, a going through or about, perambulation, from pour-, pur- (from Latin pro-), used for per-, par- (from Latin per), through, + alee, a going: see alley.
 

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/ˈpərlju/
by American Heritage

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