purlieu
UK/ˈpɜːljuː/US/ˈpɝl(j)u/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
purlieu noun: the ground on the edges of a forest, especially when partly subject to the same forest laws concerning game hunting etc.
Noun
purlieu (plural purlieus or purlieux)
- 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; 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
- Bred up, like a bailiff or a shabby attorney, about the purlieus of the Inns of Court, Shepherd’s Inn is always to be found in the close neighbourhood of Lincoln’s-Inn Fields, and the Temple.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 43, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...
purlieu meaning in Tamil and Kannada
purlieu in Tamil
- காவற்காடு
purlieu in Kannada
- ಎಲ್ಲೆ, ಗಡಿ, ಹೊರಸುತ್ತು
Examples of purlieu in a sentence
- The mission occupied eight or ten ares of land, a barren purlieu that held a few goats and burros.1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC:
- I wanted a beer, but coffee was undeniably easier to be had in the purlieus of the University, so we went into a cafe.1995, Michael Chabon, Wonder Boys, Ch.1, at p.24
Forms of purlieu
| plural | purlieus |
|---|---|
| plural | purlieux |
Origin of purlieu
From Middle English purlewe (“piece of land on the edge of a forest”), modification under the influence of Old French lieu (“place”) of porale, purale (“royal perambulation”), from Old French porale, from poraler (“to traverse”), from por- (“forth”) (from Latin prō-) + aler, aller (“to go”).
Questions about purlieu
- What does purlieu mean?
- Purlieu means the ground on the edges of a forest, especially when partly subject to the same forest laws concerning game hunting etc.
- What is purlieu in Tamil?
- Purlieu in Tamil is காவற்காடு. See Purlieu meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use purlieu in a sentence?
- The mission occupied eight or ten ares of land, a barren purlieu that held a few goats and burros.
- What part of speech is purlieu?
- Purlieu is a noun.
- How do you pronounce purlieu?
- Purlieu is pronounced /ˈpɜːljuː/ (UK).
- What is the plural of purlieu?
- The plural of purlieu is purlieus.
Words near purlieu in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: purlieu (page history and authors); purlieu (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); purlieu (Kannada 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-ncalif-purlieu.ogg.
Cite this entry: “purlieu.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/purlieu. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.