purity 
foreign admixture of heterogeneous matter : aa, Uitpmitu 
of water, of wine, of spirit ; the purity of drugs ; thepurity 
of metals. 
The puret.' of the qnintc euencle schal be sublymed 
liue and the groste schal abide bynethe In the lK>tme. 
Hook o/Quinte Emenee (ed. Furnlvall), p. 6. 
The slight touch of Renaissance in some of the capitals 
of the palace In no sort takes away from the general punty 
,,f Hi.- style. E. A- freeman. V eiilcc, p. 247. 
(6) Cleannesa; freedom from foulneas or dirt : as, the pu- 
rify of a garment (e) Freedom from guilt or the defile- 
ment of sin ; Innocence : aa, purity of heart or life. 
If we describe purity by reference to contrasts, then It 
i a character opposite to all sin. 
Bwhnell, Sermons for New Life, p. 264. 
(rf) Freedom from lust, or moral contamination by illicit 
sexual connection ; chastity. 
So bold Is Lust that she 
Pares hope to find a Blot In Purity. 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, II. 207. 
(e) Freedom from sinister or Improper views; sincerity: 
as, purity of motives or designs. 
Princes have vouchsafed grace to trifles offered from a 
purity of devotion. ford, 'Tts Pity, Ded. 
The Purl-goodt 
laces of France. 
4856 
From Ills llp did fly 
I hii. w iniltnx breath, which purl A up to tin sky. 
Shalt., Lucrece, 1. 1407. 
A purling wind that flies 
Off from the shore each morning, driving up 
The billows (ar to sea. 
Chapman, Caesar and Pompey, IL l. 
2. To upset ; overturn ; capsize. [Slang.] See 
the quotation under II., 2. 
II. trans. 1. To whirl about; cause to ro- ._,_ 
tate: as, the wind purls a snow-drift. 2. To ____,_ , ,,_/.; \ 
upset; overturn; also, specifically, as a hunting P 
terra, to unseat or unhorse. [Slang.] E^lJS^ 
purloiner 
purl-goods (perl'gudz), n.pl. English roacliim'- 
raade lace. 
In Imitation of the hand-made 
Artiian'i Report, p. 150. 
A place where purl 
They commonly paddle in companies of three ; so then, 
whenever one is purled the other two come on each side 
of him, each takes a hand and with amazing skill and 
delicacy they reseat him in his cocked hat, which never 
Inks, only purli. 
C. Reade, Never too Late, xxxrlli. (Damet.) 
3. To wind, as thread, upon a reel or spindle. 
I pyrle wyre of golde or sylner, I wynde It vpon a whcle 
as sylke women do. Palmrrave. (Jamieton.) 
purl- (perl), fl. [<prP, r. Cf.^r/i, .] 1. 
A circle or curl made by the motion of water; 
a ripple; an eddy. 
Whose stream an easle breath doth seem to blow. 
Which on the sparkling gravel runs in purlet. 
As though the waves had been of silver curies. 
Drauton, Mortimeriados, 1. 1590. (Jtichardnon.) 
So have I seen the little purli of a spring sweat through 
the bottom of a bank, and intenerate the stubborn pave- 
ment. Jer. Taylor, Works (cd. 1885), I. 849. 
lUTl 3 (perl), r. t. [Contr. of purfle.~] 1. To or- 
nament with a decorative bonier of any sort : 
decorate with fringe or embroidery; purfle. 
For all the copes and vestcmentes wer but of one pece 
so wouen for the purpose, cloth of tissue and pondered 
with redde roses purled with fine gold. 
Hall. Hen. VIII.. an. 12, 
Is thy skin whole? art thou not purl'd with scabs? 
Fletchrr (and another). Sea Voyage, 
After Casaar and Cicero's Time, the Latin Tongue con- 
tinued in Rome and Italy In her Puritu 400 Years together. 
Uoirett, Letters, II. 58. 
=Syn. (c)and(rf) ImmacuUteneB8,guilele8sness, honesty, 
intc-grity, virtue, modesty. (/) Purity, }*ropriety, Preci- 
lion. As a quality of style. "Purity . . . relates to three 
things, viz. the form of words [etymology], the construc- 
tion of words in continuous discourse (syntax], and the 
meaning of words and phrases llexicography]." (A. 
Phelpt. Eng. Style, p. 9.) " Propriety . . . relates to the 
signification of language as fixed by usage." (A. Phelpt, 
Eng. style, p. 79.) " The offences against the usage of the 
Knglish language are . . . improprietim, words or phrases 
used in a sense not English. (A. S. Hill, Rhet., p. 19.) 
" An author's diction Is pure when he uses such wordt only 
as belong to the idiom of the language, in opposition to 
words that arc foreign, obsolete, newly coined, or without 
proper authority. ... A violation of purity [t called a 
barbarism. . . . But another question arises. ... Is the 
word used correctly In the sentence In which It occurs? 
. A writer who fails in this respect offends against pro- 
prifty." (J. S. Hart.C.omji. and Rhet., pp. 68,74.) "Pre- 
rirfnn Includes all that Is essential to the expression of no p u rl :1 (perl), n. [Contr. of purfle.] 
more, no less, and no other than the meaning which the i Pn ,l,roi- 
writer purposes to express " (A. Phelp,, Eng. Style, p. 6.) ' 
Parsons may be ranked among the earliest writers of our 
vernacular diction In Its purity and pristine vigor, with- 
out ornament orpolish. /. D'trraeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 8r>. 
In our own tongue we may err egrcgionsly against pro- 
pried/, and consequently against intritii, though all the 
words we employ be English, and though they be con- 
strued In the English Idiom. The reason Is evident : they 
may be misapplied ; they may lie employed as signs of 
things to which use hath not affixed them. This fault 
may be committed either In single words or In phrases. 
O.'CampbeU. Philosophy of Rhetoric, II. ill. i S. 
Our verse . . . had become lax and trivial, and we 
needed In be recalled to piecurion and moral vigor. 
R. Gone. From Shakespeare to Pope, p. 181. 
2. To invert, as a stitch in knitting 
and knit the other way ; seam. 
dory or perhaps 
of lace, or gold 
lace or galloon. 
Throughout the fif- 
teenth, sixteenth, 
and seventeenth cen- 
turies the term Is 
in use, and evidently 
8. 
turn over 
1. A bor- 
Embroi-lere'i Rorder. ', the purl. 
with different significations, hut always as an ornamental 
purl-house (perl'hous), n. 
is sold and drunk. 
There were lower depths yet : there were the purl houtet. 
where "Tradesmen flock In their Morning gowns, by Sev- 
en, to cool their Mucks." 
J. AMon Social Life In Reign of Queen Anne, I. 294. 
-ku), r. t. Same zapartecve. 
obsolete form of purlieu. 
purlieu (per'lu), n. [Formerly ulsopurltte, pur- 
luy; an altered form, simulating F. lieu, a place 
(see lieu), of purlic, pvrly, purley, prop, land 
which, having been part of a royal forest, has 
been severed from it by perambulation or sur- 
vey^ OF. potirallee,puralee, a going through or 
about, perambulation, < pour-, pur- (< L. pro-), 
used for per-, par- (< L. per), through, + aler, 
a going : see alley 1 .'] It. Land added to a royal 
forest by unlawful encroachment, but after- 
ward disafforested, and restored to the former 
owners, its bounds and extent being settled by 
perambulation. 
With all amercements due 
To such as hunt In purley; this is something, 
With mine own game reserved. 
Handolph, Muses' Looking-glass, Iv. :i. 
Asa pnrly hunter, I have hitherto beaten about the cir- 
cuit of the forest of this microcosm. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 227. 
Til' Infernal Nlmrod's halloo? 
The lawless purlirntt and the game they follow? . . . 
These purlieu men are devils ; and the hounds . . . 
Temptations. Qtiarlen, Emblems, III. ft. 
Land which had . . . been once forest land and was 
afterwards disafforested was known as purlieu. 
Encye. Brit.. IX. 409. 
2. j)/. The borders or environs of any place : 
the outskirts: outlying places: as, the purlieu* 
of Paris. 
Pray you, if yon know, 
Where in the purlieui of this forest stands 
A sheep cote fenced about with olive trees? 
Shale., As you Like it, iv. S. 77. 
A party next of glittering dames, 
From round the purliew of M. James, 
Came early. Sirtft, Cadenns and Vanessa. 
Fresh from brawl ing courts 
And dusty purlieu* of the law. 
Tfiinyfiim, III Memorial!!, Ixxxix. 
Purlieu men, In old form lair, men who had ground with- 
in the border of a forest, and were licensed to hunt within 
their own purlieus. Manwood, Forest I-aws. xx. f 8. 
of carnation velvet, enriched with ptirl and pearl. 
Kir P. Sulneii. 
Purkinjean (per-kin'je-an), a. [< Purkinjt- 
(see def.) + -//.] Pertaining to or named af- 
ter the Bohemian physiologist Purkinje (1787- 
1869) : as, the Purkinjean vesicle, discovered by 
him in 1823. See germinal resiele, under germi- 
nal. 
Purkinje's cells. See eellx of Piirkinjr, under 
eell. 
Purkinje's fibers. Large beaded and reticulat- 
ed fibers found in the snbendocardial tissue of 
some animals, and occasionally in mnn. 
Purkinje's figures. See figure. 
Purkinje's vesicle. See germinal reticle, under 
gmniiial. 
purl 1 (perl), r. i. [Formerly also pirl; < Sw. 
porln, purl, bubble, as a stream ; cf . D. liorrelen, 
adjunct, an edging or the like to a garment. AlsopwrJ. p ur lin i purline (per'lin), n. [Origin obscure.] 
Himself came In next after a triumphant chariot made I n riirn., n piece of timber laid horizontally 
upon tne principal rafters of a roof to support 
the common rafters on which the covering is 
laid. Also called aide limber or siile waver. 
Hee cut under roof. 
M, lord, one of the ri. of yonr band is. without all purlin-post (per'ljn-post). ... In car,,., one of 
discipline, fallen onto/ his rank the struts by which a purlin is supported to 
Maiaitiyer atul FitM. Fatal Dowry. II. 2. prevent it from sagging. 
2. A spiral of gold or silver wire, used in lace- purlman (nerl'man). .; pi. pttrtmen (-men). A 
, n * r_ ; _* ii. - ~i:i_i :_ i :. collar nr tno linnnr nllp(l 
How many puffs and nr( lay In a miserable case for 
want of stiffening 1 starch 1 1 
Miildleton. Father Hnlibard's Tales. 
work. 3. An inversion of the stitches in knit- 
ting, which gives to parts of the work an ap- 
pearance different from the general surface, 
seller of the liquor called purl. 
There is yet another class of Itinerant dealers, . . . the 
river beer-sellers, or purlmen as they are more commonly 
called. May/tew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 107. 
The term Is used in the general sense as Indicating the 
fabric spoken of, and also as denoting a certain quantity 
of it : as, so many shillings the purl. 
bubbl'e; a freq. form from the' imitative base purlMperl), i. [Appar. another spelling of 
it i *\firtvl an sinlt^wl tcttli vrif (it tlin Inllililnu /ill tin' 
in pirr aiid purr 1 . It is partly confused 
with jiirl, i>riin , whirl. ] To flow with a rippling 
or murmuring sound, as a shallow stream over 
or among stones or other obstructions; ripple 
along in eddying and bubbling swirls. 
From dry Rocks abundant Rivers purl'il. 
Sylniter. tr. of Du Bartaa's Weeks, I. :i. 
The brooks run purling down with silver warm 
Parnell, Health. 
> III o er the rolling pebbles, down the hills, 
l/,mler and louder i>nrt the falling rllli. 
Pope, Iliad, xxi. 287. 
see from the weedy ruth n rivulet break, 
And vurl along the untrcxlden wilderneia. 
Bryant. Tlu- Path. 
purl 1 (p'-rl). . [Formerly also pirl ; < /<//!, r. ) 
1. A continued murmuring sound. ms of a shal- 
low stream of water running over Mimll stones: 
;.-. I In- /nirl of a brook. 2f. A murmuring brook 
nr rippmig stream of water. 
A bmket or pirle of water. 
pearl, so called with ref. to the bubbles on the 
surface, < pearl, t 1 .] A drink, of which beer is 
the principal ingredient, defined about 1815 as 
hot beer jnixed with gin: same as dog's-nose ; 
in later times, a stimulating mixture of beer, 
gin, sugar, and ginger. It was. before coffee and 
tea were used, commonly made to be drunk in the morn- 
ing, and hence the liquor Is called early purl. 
Early In the morning I set my Iwoks ... in order. 
Thence forth to Mr. Harper's to drink a draft of purle. 
Pepyt, Diary, Feb. 19, 1660. 
\is lord duke would have a double mug of purl. 
filfelr. Spectator, No. 88. 
Mr. Swlveller . . . had by this time taken quite as much 
to drink as promised to be good for his constitution (purl 
twlng a rather stmng and heady compound). 
THrktn*. Old Curiosity Shop, Kill. 
Again, there waapiirt early purl. Once there waa 
dull In the neighbourhood of Covent Garden which exist ed 
for the purpoae of arising betimes and drinking purl be- 
low breakfast. W. Kemnt, Fitly Years Ago, p. 170. 
pnrl 5 *, 
If. To put off; prolong; delay. Prompt. Parr., 
pp. 394, 417. 2f. To set back or aside; put 
away: remove. 
Who that youre perceptls pertely periovned, 
With dredc In to dede schall ye dryffe hyro. 
York Playt, p. 271. 
3. To remove, carry off, or take for one's self; 
hence, to take by theft; filch; steal. 
Vast Quantities of Stores did he 
Embezzle and purloin. 
Prior, The Viceroy, st, 26. 
Your butler purloiiu your liquor, and the brewer sells 
your hog-waah. Arbutlmol. Hist. John Hull. 
If rigid honesty permit 
That 1 for once purloin I he wit 
of him, who, were we all to steal, 
Is much too rich the theft to feel. 
Churchill, film*!, Iv. 
Penrerta the PropheU and purloin* the Psalms. 
Byron, Eng. Bardi and Scotch Reviewers. 
A rertaln document of the last Importance has liecn pur- 
loinetl from the royal aparlim nt- 
Pot, Prose Tales, I. --la. 
Iceland i Itinerary (\;t\\ HL 132. (Ualliu*ll.> I'rompt. Part.,j>. 417. 
pur l-'< perl ),r. [Former! v also pirl ; < ME. pyr- purl(ptrl). . [Imitative, like yo/rAetc.] The 
tin, whirl, throw; et.purn.] I. iiilrinm. 1. To i-mnmon tern, or .-ca-swallow. [Norfolk, Eng.] 
eurlorswirl: move in ripplingoreddying swirls, pnrleyt, " An obsolete form of ; 
II. iiitrtnix. To practise theft. 
Not purloininy, hut shewing all good fidelity. Tit. II. 1 
A Middle English form of proirl. purloiner rpct-loi'ner), . One who purloin-; 
. , v\ At i " 
a thief. 
The only reason why these purloinen of the public cans< 
snch a dutti-r l" ! made about their reputations. 
fin ill. r.xamlnrr. ' 
