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:
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 Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
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 Eugene Mason
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 J. H. (Joseph Henry) Pearce
Hast aught plotting in the hem of thy purfle, or in thy holiday ruff and fardingale?
From Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 by John Roby
After them followed a troop of English gentlemen, two and two, and then the Knights of the Bath, "in gowns of violet, with hoods purfled with miniver like doctors."
From The Reign of Henry the Eighth, Volume 1 (of 3) by James Anthony Froude
Any instrument having ornamentations on the back in the shape of purfled scroll-work is at once said to be by Paolo Maggini.
From The Violin Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators by George Hart
The blazing fire decorated the darkness, and the twilight shed upon curtains purfled with birds and petals.
From Celibates by George (George Augustus) Moore
Long middle bouts and corners; style and work very primitive, mostly double purfled.
From The Violin Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators by George Hart
"Don't see, sir, why we can't put a bit of purfling round as clean as that! some of those French copies are as cleanly purfled as any part of this!"
From The Repairing & Restoration of Violins 'The Strad' Library, No. XII. by Horace Petherick
It is used here and there in contrary direction, as the grain of the several parts of the purfling does not run quite level.
From The Repairing & Restoration of Violins 'The Strad' Library, No. XII. by Horace Petherick
Yellow varnish, plain wood, heavy work, rough purfling.
From The Violin Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators by George Hart
The heat causes the damp to evaporate and steam the materials, and the purfling will gradually assume the required curve.
From The Repairing & Restoration of Violins 'The Strad' Library, No. XII. by Horace Petherick
The sound holes straight and large, well cut and parallel, and double purfling.
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 J. H. (Joseph Henry) Pearce
Much has been said of the wonderful accuracy of Stradivari's purfling and that as a purfler he stands unrivalled.
From Antonio Stradivari by Horace William Petherick
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.
