PURLIEU • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Purlieu

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noun

Purlieu n. (Written also pourlieu)

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 purlieu two gentle fawns at play."

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."

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Etymology of 'Purlieu'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Purlieu" Quotes from Famous Books

... arise, and vanish with the waning of a moon. What would this, or any other country, become, were law, order, the police and every restraining influence made absolutely inefficient? Were California one state today; a dozen next week; in July six or seven, and next December but a purlieu to Arizona?—Things, heaven knows, are bad enough as they are; there is no dearth of crime and cheatery. Still, the police and the legal system do stand between us and red riot and ruin. In China they ...

— The Crest-Wave of Evolution • Kenneth Morris

... betrayals never escaped him when, in one of his inimitable disguises, he penetrated to the purlieu of Whitechapel, to the dens of Limehouse. Then he was the perfect Hooligan, as, mingling with the dangerous thieves of Paris, he was the perfect Apache. It was an innate gift of mimicry which had ...

— The Golden Scorpion • Sax Rohmer

Words linked to "Purlieu" : geographical region, environs