▪ I. purlin Carpentry.
(ˈpɜːlɪn)
Forms: 5 (perlion), purlyn, -lyon, 6 -lyne, 7 -lain, -linge, 7–9 purline, 8– -lin, (9 purling, perling); 5–7 purloyn(e, 8–9 -loin.
[History unascertained; the forms suggest a Fr. origin, with the prefix por-, pour-, in AF. pur-.]
A horizontal beam, usually one of two or more, which run along the length of a roof, resting upon the principal rafters (which they cross at right angles), and lending support to the common rafters or boards of the roof.
| 1447 Tintinhull Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 183 It. in perlionebus emptis ad idem opus. 1448–9 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 10 The principalles shalbe..x inch thik with a purlyn in the Middes from one principall to a nother. 1484 Indenture Waynflete in Parker Gloss. Archit. s.v., The lower doobyll purlyon pece,..and the over purloyn for the seid floor. 1527 Repairs at Drayton Manor (Public Rec. Office), For sawynge of sparrs and syderasons and purlynes ij days. ij s. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 45 The Purlains for the Roof. Ibid. 72 Purloyns the same. Ibid. 73 The Purloynes the same. 1667 Primatt City & C. Build. 86 Four Purlines, being between eighteen and one and twenty foot long, and twelve and nine inches in thickness. 1714 S. Sewall Diary 16 July, Split the principal Rafter next that end, to the purloin. 1864 in Brighton Sir P. Wallis (1892) 154 The purloins of the deck were about twelve feet long. 1881 Mechanic §1328 Common rafters..are notched slightly on the under side to fit over the purlins. |
b. attrib., as purlin piece, purlin post, purlin rafter.
| 1484 Indenture Waynflete in Parker Gloss. Archit. s.v., The lower doobyll purlyon pece. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Purlin-post, a strut supporting a purlin. 1842 Gwilt Archit. §2046 Purline rafters. |
▪ II. purlin
see pearling n., quot. a 1700.