A glossary of Tudor and Stuart words, especially from the dramatists

by Walter W. Skeat

purlieu, ground near a forest, which having been made forest, was by perambulation (OF. puralee) separated from the same, see Manwood, Forest Laws, cap. 20; ‘In the purlieus of this forest’, As You Like It, iv. 3. 77. The form purlieu (for an older purley) is probably due to popular etymology, i.e. to association with F. pur lieu, L. purus locus, a free open space; purley, Randolph, Muses’ Looking-glass, iv. 3 (Nimis); purley-man, one who has lands within the ‘purlieu’ (NED.); Pourlie man, Cowell’s Interpreter (s.v. Purlue). Anglo-F. puralé (-lée), a going though, ‘perambulatio’ (Rough List, s.v. Purlieu). See NED.

purpense, to determine beforehand; ‘James Grame . . . wilfully assented and purpensed the murdre, &c.’, Act 12 Hen. VII, c. 7; ‘A purpensed malice’, Udall, Erasmus’s Paraph. Mark iii. 30. Anglo-F. purpenser: agwait purpensé, ‘insidiis praecogitatis’ (Laws of William I, § 1, 2); see Moisy. See [prepense].

purpose, conversation, discourse. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 2. 45; ii. 6. 6; ii. 8. 56; Much Ado, iii. 1. 12; to converse, discourse, F. Q. ii. 12. 16. OF. pourpos (purpos), a purpose (Godefroy), cp. F. propos, a purpose, design, also, speech, discourse (Cotgr.).

purprise, an enclosure, enclosed area. Bacon, Essay 56 (Judicature). Norm. F. purprise, pourprise, ‘pourpris, enceinte, enelos, demeure’ (Moisy); porprise (Didot); porprendre, ‘investir, entourer’ (Didot). Med. L. porprisa, porprisum, ‘possessio vel locus sepibus, muris, ant vallis conclusus’; see Ducange (s.v. Porprendere).

purse, to steal purses. Beaumont and Fl., Scornful Lady, ii. 1 (Yo. Loveless).

purse-net, a net, the mouth of which could be drawn together by a string. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, iv. 2 (Ariosto); Appius, iv. 1 (Advocate).

purveyance, providence. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, iv, l. 58; provision, equipment, Spenser, F. Q. i. 12. 13. ME. purveyaunce, providence, also, provision (Chaucer). See Dict. (s.v. Purvey).

push, a pustule, pimple; ‘Black poushes or boyles’, Sir T. Elyot, Castel of Helthe, bk. iii, c. 7; ‘Pimples or pushes’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 6. Still in use in many parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Push, sb.³).

push, interj., pish! Massinger, The Old Law, ii. 1 (Simonides); Middleton, Mich. Term, ii. 3 (Shortyard). Very common in Middleton.

push-pin, a childish game noticed by Strutt, Sports, v. 4. 14. In L. L. L. iv. 3. 169; Herrick, Hesper., Love’s Play at Push-pin. Also called put-pin.