▪ I. purfled, ppl. a.1
(ˈpɜːf(ə)ld)
[f. prec. + -ed1.]
1. Bordered; esp. having a decorative or ornamental border; bordered with embroidery, gold lace, fur, etc.; fringed; in vaguer use, embroidered, decorated. Also fig.
| c 1470 Compl. Christ 284 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 178 What shalle than prophyte þi gowne purfylled? 1520 Treat. Galaunt 141 So many purfled garmentes furred with non sequitur With so many penyles purses hath no man sawe. 1600 Holland Livy vii. i. 250 All of the Patritij, sitting like Consuls, with their purfled and pourpled long robes in yvorie chaires of estate. 1634 Milton Comus 995 Flowers of more mingled hew Then her purfl'd scarf can shew. a 1717 Parnell Misc. (1807) 30 The purfled border deck'd the floor with gold. 1870 Rossetti Poems, Jenny 117 But must your roses die, and those Their purfled buds that should unclose? |
b. transf. Of a person: Decorated with purfling.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 9 Þenne was I war of a wommon wonderliche cloþed, Purfylet with pelure þe ricchest vppon eorþe. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1906) 30 Thus she shall be beter purfiled and furred thanne other ladies and gentill women. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 23 Oct. 2/1 The Austrian knights with mace and battle-axe, the plumed and purfled Landvogts from Bern. |
† c. transf. Applied as a border. Obs.
| 1652 Collier in Benlowes' Theoph. Pref. Verses, But brighter Theophil behold, Whose Vest is wrought with purfled Gold. |
† 2. Her. Said of a charge having a bordering line, or a border or edging of another tincture: see also quot. 1868, and cf. purflewe. Obs.
| 1562 Leigh Armorie (1597) 91 The Fesse was first, & then the Cantone was giuen in rewarde. Being of one colour, they are not purfled. Ibid. 180 b, iii Cheuernes, Humettes, counterchanged, Purfled Argent. Ye cannot say bordured, because nothinge may be bordured, that is Humette w{supt}in y⊇ Escocheon. 1868 Cussans Her. (1882) 129 Purfled: when applied to a Mantle, implies that it is lined or guarded with fur; and when to Armour, that the studs and rims are of another metal. |
3. Arch., etc. (See quots.)
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. Gloss. 591 Purfled, ornamented in a manner resembling drapery, embroidery, or lace-work. 1842–72 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Purfled. 1843 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. VI. 12 b, The tall and narrow south transept, with its..flying and attached buttresses, perforated parapets, and purfled pinnacles. |
† 4. vaguely. Variegated. Obs.
| 1602 Carew Cornwall 110 b, So thou dost line the earth With purfeld streames of blew and white. |
▪ II. ˈpurfled, ppl. a.2 Sc. rare.
‘Short-winded, esp. in consequence of being too lusty’ (Jamieson 1808–24); plethoric.
| 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 15 The language is out of condition—fat and fozy, thickwinded, purfled and plethoric. |