purfle
Americanverb (used with object)
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to finish with an ornamental border.
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to decorate (a shrine or tabernacle) with architectural forms in miniature.
noun
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of purfle
1275–1325; Middle English purfilen < Middle French porfiler to make or adorn a border, equivalent to por- pro 1 + filer to spin, derivative of fil thread < Latin fīlum. See profile
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Alive or dead, Riton used them despitefully; for it was his wont to shave the beards of these kings, and purfle therewith a cloak of furs that he wore, very rich.
From Arthurian Chronicles: Roman de Brut by Mason, Eugene
He made some good instruments, but did not purfle them.
From Violins and Violin Makers Biographical Dictionary of the Great Italian Artistes, their Followers and Imitators, to the present time. With Essays on Important Subjects Connected with the Violin. by Pearce, J. H. (Joseph Henry)
This toll was established because sir Crudor, with whom she was in love, refused to marry her till she had provided him with human hair sufficient to "purfle a mantle" with.
From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1 A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook by Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham
Hast aught plotting in the hem of thy purfle, or in thy holiday ruff and fardingale?
From Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 by Roby, John
Give me my kerchief, lace scarf, and green silk hood, and my petticoat with the border newly purfled.
From Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 by Roby, John
His horse, a charger of the largest size, and well able to sustain his vast weight, was trapped in crimson velvet, purfled with ermines.
From Windsor Castle by Ainsworth, William Harrison
Not to be Bishop of Verona, throned and purfled on Can Grande's right hand, will I consent to traffic my Vanna.
From Little Novels of Italy by Hewlett, Maurice Henry
These futile trappings but recall Degenerate worshippers who fall In purfled kirtle and brocade To 'parel the white Mother-Maid.
From Poems by Thompson, Francis
The language is out of condition:—fat and fozy, thick-winded, purfled and plethoric.
From Famous Reviews by Johnson, R. Brimley
On all of these instruments will be found his name, surrounded with a design in purfling, under the finger-board, or his monogram executed in purfling.
From The Violin Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators by Hart, George
Andrew Amati, on the contrary, built nearly as high, but beautifully and gradually sloped them down to the purfling, and his instruments, though small in tone, are yet full, round and sweet.
From Violins and Violin Makers Biographical Dictionary of the Great Italian Artistes, their Followers and Imitators, to the present time. With Essays on Important Subjects Connected with the Violin. by Pearce, J. H. (Joseph Henry)
The purfling, particularly after some years, is narrower, and inserted with a precision and ease in its course impossible to excel, even if approachable.
From Antonio Stradivari by Petherick, Horace William
Having roughly measured the length of the piece of purfling to be inserted, he finds that it will be necessary to bend it to the curves of the groove made for it.
From The Repairing & Restoration of Violins 'The Strad' Library, No. XII. by Petherick, Horace
For the bending of the purfling there may be, of course, any number of methods.
From The Repairing & Restoration of Violins 'The Strad' Library, No. XII. by Petherick, Horace
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
