purlieu

Definition

The ground on the edges of a forest, especially when partly subject to the same forest laws concerning game hunting etc.

Etymology

From Middle English purlewe (“piece of land on the edge of a forest”), modification under the influence of Old French lieu (“place”) of porale, purale (“royal perambulation”), from Old French porale, from poraler (“to traverse”), from por- (“forth”) (from Latin prō- + aler, aller (“to go”).

Example Sentences

• "Whether Lady Anne knew or suspected who it was that drew his steps from the purlieus of fashion he knew not, nor held himself bound to explain."
• "Bred up, like a bailiff or a shabby attorney, about the purlieus of the Inns of Court, Shepherd’s Inn is always to be found in the close neighbourhood of Lincoln’s-Inn Fields, and the Temple."
• "He seemed to wish to keep hold of him, and looked at him strangely, over his spectacles... when he learned that Hyacinth had taken a lodging not in their old familiar quarter but in the unexplored purlieus of Westminster."