Word.ws English Dictionary

purlew

purlew is the obsolete form of purlieu.

Meaning of purlieu

Noun

purlieu (plural purlieus or purlieux)

  1. (historical) The ground on the edges of a forest, especially when partly subject to the same forest laws concerning game hunting etc.
  2. The outskirts of any place; an adjacent district; the environs or neighborhood; milieu.
    • Whether Lady Anne knew or suspected who it was that drew his steps from the purlieus of fashion he knew not, nor held himself bound to explain.1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 76

Forms of purlew

pluralpurlews

Questions about purlew

What is purlew the obsolete form of?
Purlew is the obsolete form of purlieu.

Words near purlew in the dictionary

  1. purled
  2. Purleigh
  3. purler
  4. purlers
  5. purles
  6. purlew
  7. Purlewaugh
  8. purlews
  9. Purley
  10. Purley on Thames
  11. purlicue

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: purlew (page history and authors); purlieu (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.

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