pullen Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈpʊlɪn)
Forms: α. 4 pullan, 5 -layne, 6 -lain, -lyn, poullayne, 6–7 pulleyn, -e, -lein, -e, -lin, 7 -lyne, poulen, 8 dial. pulling, 6– pullen. β. 5 polayn, 6 -eyn, pol(l)ayne, polleine, -en.
[Origin obscure; app. a. OF. poulain, puleyn, polan (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) young of any animal (:—pop. L. pullān-us, -um, deriv. of pullus young animal), identified in Eng. with poullaille, pullaile, poultry.]
1. Poultry; barn-door or domestic fowls; the flesh of these as food. Also attrib., as pullen market.
| α 1329 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) II. 102, xij pullan prec. 18d. c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 67, v. disson pullayn for Gely. xij. dd. to roste. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccciii. 701 Mylke, chese, pulleyn, and other thynges. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 177 Where pullen vse nightly to pearch in the yard. 1591 Nashe Prognost. 10 Hennes, Capons, Geese, and other pullin. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 220 To mingle hens or pullins dung especially with their meat. 1725 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Turkey, They are cur'd in the same manner as Pullen is. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss. s.v., The Pullen market in Newcastle. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. II. 150 I'm not a goin' to hev' my pullen and lambs run'd away wi'. |
| β 1486 Bk. St. Albans C ij b, Take whete..and fede hennys or chykynnes therwith, and fede yowre hawke with thessame polayn. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xvi. 18 With right good chepe, as well of pollen, as of other vitailes. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §146 Gyue thy poleyn meate in the mornynge. 1549 Cheke Hurt Sedit. (1569) H iij b, Diuers vermine destroye corne, kill Polleine. |
2. Chickens collectively; young; rarely, a chicken;
fig. a child. (
Cf. OF. polle girl.)
| 1631 Celestina Prol. A vij, Your craven Kites press upon our Pullen, insulting over them even in our own houses, and offring to take them even from under the hens wings. 1681 Grew Musæum i. iv. iii. 73 Whatever they [Puffins] eat in the day, they disgorge a good part of it in the night into the mouths of their Pullen. 1876 Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘Thoo little uneasy pullen’, you tiresome child. |