Word.ws English Dictionary

palfrey

/ˈpɔːl.fɹi/

palfrey noun: a small horse with a smooth, ambling gait, popular in the Middle Ages with nobles and women for riding (contrasted with a warhorse).

palfrey: a small horse with a smooth, ambling gait, popular in the Middle Ages with nobles and women for...
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Noun

palfrey (plural palfreys)

  1. (historical) A small horse with a smooth, ambling gait, popular in the Middle Ages with nobles and women for riding (contrasted with a warhorse).
    • Five warriors seiz'd me yestermorn, / Me, even me, a maid forlorn: / They choked my cries with force and fright, / And tied me on a palfrey white. / The palfrey was as fleet as wind, / And they rode furiously behind.1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Christabel. Part I.”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC...
    • The eye of father and sister alike forgot every other object while watching the evolutions of the young and graceful boy, who realised the descriptions of romance as, his golden curls dancing on the wind, his cheek flushed with exercise, and his large blue eyes dilated and flashing with triumph, he...1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 154–155

Proper noun capitalized: Palfrey

Palfrey (countable and uncountable, plural Palfreys)

  1. A surname from Middle English.
  2. A suburb of Walsall, Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England (OS grid ref SP0097).

palfrey meaning in Tamil

palfrey in Tamil

சவாரிக் குதிரை, மட்டக்குதிரை

Forms of palfrey

Noun
pluralpalfreys
Proper noun
pluralPalfreys
alternative formPelfrey
alternative formPelphrey

Origin of palfrey

From Middle English palfrey, from Anglo-Norman palefrei (“steed”), from Old French palefroi, palefreid, from Late Latin paraverēdus (“post horse, spare horse”), from Ancient Greek παρά (pará) + Latin verēdus (“post horse”), from Gaulish *werēdos (“horse”) (compare Welsh gorwydd (“horse”)), from Proto-Celtic *uɸoreidos (“horse”). Doublet of prad. Compare Dutch paard and German Pferd.

Metonymic occupational surname for a man responsible for the maintenance and provision of saddle-horses, from Middle English palfrey.

Words formed from palfrey

Questions about palfrey

What does palfrey mean?
Palfrey means a small horse with a smooth, ambling gait, popular in the Middle Ages with nobles and women for riding (contrasted with a warhorse).
What is palfrey in Tamil?
Palfrey in Tamil is சவாரிக் குதிரை, மட்டக்குதிரை. See Palfrey meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is palfrey?
Palfrey can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce palfrey?
Palfrey is pronounced /ˈpɔːl.fɹi/ (UK).
What is the plural of palfrey?
The plural of palfrey is palfreys.

Words near palfrey in the dictionary

  1. paletôts
  2. paleways
  3. palewise
  4. Paley
  5. Paley's watch
  6. palfrey
  7. palfreyed
  8. palfreyman
  9. palfreys
  10. Palghar
  11. palgrave

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: palfrey (page history and authors); Palfrey (page history and authors); palfrey (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-palfrey.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-palfrey.wav.

Cite this entry: “palfrey.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/palfrey. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.