purlieu

[pur-loo, purl-yoo]

noun

purlieus, environs or neighborhood.

a place where one may range at large; confines or bounds.

a person's haunt or resort.

an outlying district or region, as of a town or city.

a piece of land on the edge of a forest, originally land that, after having been included in a royal forest, was restored to private ownership, though still subject, in some respects, to the operation of the forest laws.

Origin of purlieu

1475–85; alteration (simulating French lieu place) of earlier parlewe, parley, paraley purlieu of a forest < Anglo-French purale(e) a going through, equivalent to pur (< Latin prō for, pro¹, confused with per through) + aller (see alley¹)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for purlieus

periphery, boundary, edge, outskirts, fringe, environs, neighborhood, district, area, locale, vicinity, hangout, haunt

Examples from the Web for purlieus

Historical Examples of purlieus

It is in the purlieus of the Law Courts and very hard to find.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, April 28, 1920
Various
The office, and all the purlieus of the office, were occupied by a dense crowd.
The Uncollected Writings of Thomas de Quincey, Vol. 2
Thomas de Quincey
Beside it even the purlieus of Rome sink into insignificance.
An Outcast
F. Colburn Adams
I do not speak of card-playing about the purlieus of Piccadilly.
The Quadroon
Mayne Reid
Crawford, prowling in the purlieus of society, had seen Miss Castle.
A Young Man in a Hurry
Robert W. Chambers

British Dictionary definitions for purlieus

purlieu

noun

English history land on the edge of a forest that was once included within the bounds of the royal forest but was later separated although still subject to some of the forest laws, esp regarding hunting

(usually plural) a neighbouring area; outskirts

(often plural) a place one frequents; haunt

rare a district or suburb, esp one that is poor or squalid

Word Origin for purlieu

C15 purlewe, from Anglo-French puralé a going through (influenced also by Old French lieu place), from Old French puraler to traverse, from pur through + aler to go

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012