▪ I. parley, n.1
(ˈpɑːlɪ)
Also 6–7 parlye, -lie, -lee, (7 -le, -lé), 6–9 parly.
[Either from parley v., F. parler vb. inf. taken sbst., or a. OF. parlée, fem. n. from pa. pple. of parler to speak.]
1. Speech, speaking, talk; conversation, discourse, conference; debate, argument. (Now usually coloured by 2.)
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 97 Her bye tale owt hauking amyd oft her parlye she chocketh. 1583 W. Fleetwood in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 292, I know not what other parlee Mr. Nowell can pled. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 46 They did frolicke amongst themselves with manie pleasaunt parlies. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) III. 25 Admiration..that..you should com to be so great a Master of those Languages both for the Pen and Parley. 1717 Prior Alma i. 330 They meet each evening in the grove; Their parley but augments their love. 1791 Cowper Iliad xxii. 148 A nymph and swain soft parley mutual hold. 1860 Holland Miss Gilbert vi. 105 Arthur..without further parley commanded him to be silent. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid iii. 481 Why with longer parley the rising breezes delay? |
† b. A public discussion or disputation in a University. Obs.
| 1577 Fulke Confut. Purg. 441 This were a pretty question for a Sophister in Oxford to demand in their parleis. |
2. A conference for the debating of points in dispute; esp. Mil., an informal conference with an enemy, under a truce, for the discussion of terms, or the mutual arrangement of matters, as the exchange of prisoners; a discussion of terms. to beat or sound a parley, to call for or request a parley by sounding a drum or trumpet.
| 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 138 b, Castles that come to parley, are commonlie at the point to render. 1607 Dekker Hist. Sir T. Wyatt Wks. 1873 III. 97 stage-direct., The Herald soundes a parlee, and none answers. 1607 Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. i. i. 38 Sound for Parlé, and thinke vpon conditions of peace. 1682 Bunyan Holy War (Cassell) 262 When this drummer had beaten for a parley he made this speech to Mansoul. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton xvi. 278 Carrying a white flag, and offering a parley. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) II. xiv. 60 We find them proposing a parley for arranging terms of capitulation. |
b. Sc. dial. A truce or armistice in certain games; the place of truce. Cf. barley int.
| 1723 W. Meston Knight Poet. Wks. (1767) 7 On it [his skull] you might thresh wheat or barley, Or tread the grape ere he cry'd parley. |
c. (See quot.) Cf. beat a parley in a.
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Parley, that beat of drum by which a conference with an enemy is desired. Synonymous with chamade. |
3. Comb. † parley-hill, in Scotland and Ireland, formerly, a mound, usually fortified, where the local disputes of neighbouring districts were debated and settled.
| 1641 in D. Beveridge Culross & Tulliallan (1885) I. vi. 196 Those who stand in the kirkyard or parlyhill discoursing. 1664 Spelman's Gloss. s.v. Mallobergium, Quæ in Hibernia parly hills, i. placitandi vel interloquendi montes appellantur. |
▪ II. ˈparley, n.2 Sc. and dial.
Also parly.
[Short for parliament.]
A thin cake of gingerbread; a parliament-cake.
| 1825 Jamieson s.v. Parliament-cake, Here's a bawbee taw ye: awa' an' buy parleys wi't. 18.. M{supc}Gilvray Poems (1862) 108 (E.D.D.) Pies, parlies, tarts, and butter bakes. 1891 Barrie Little Minister (1892) 3 A little boy..pressed forward and offered him a sticky parly. |
▪ III. ˈparley, n.3 humorous.
[Short for parleyvoo.]
A Frenchman.
| 1831 Lady Granville Lett. (1894) II. 78 The girls are led out by unknown parleys, who caper by their sides and then give them back to my care. |
▪ IV. parley, v.
(ˈpɑːlɪ)
Also 6–7 -lie, 6–8 -ly, (7 -lee).
[Either f. F. parler to speak, parlez speak!, or f. parley n. (if the latter was earlier).]
1. intr. To speak, talk; to converse, discourse, confer (with). Now arch. (and tending to be coloured with 2).
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 963 As bashfull Suters, seeing Strangers by, Parley in silence with their hand or eye. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit., Irel. ii. 116 Ulisses, when hee went down to parlee with those in hell. 1791 Cowper Iliad xxii. 147 It is no time..With him to parley, as a nymph and swain. 1847 Disraeli Tancred iii. i, Is it not the land upon whose mountains the Creator of the Universe parleyed with man? |
b. trans. To speak, utter; esp. to speak a foreign or strange language.
| 1570 J. Phillip Frendly Larum in Farr S.P. Eliz. (Parker Soc.) II. 526 Not basshing suche pernitious talke To parley and reporte. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 257 That Beauty in Court which could not parly Euphuism, was as little regarded as those now there that cannot speak French. 1873 Dixon Two Queens II. ix. ix. 147 An Italian, who could parley French and Spanish. |
2. intr. To treat, discuss terms; esp. to hold a parley (with an enemy or opponent); to come to parley. Also fig.
| 1600 J. Dymmok Ireland (1843) 34 The Lord Lieutenant sent the Lord of Cayre to parly with him. 1613 Heywood Silv. Age iii. Wks. 1874 III. 143 Vpon them, when we parlee with our foes. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. xi, We..offered a truce to parley. 1823 Scott Peveril vii, Major Bridgenorth advanced, as if to parley. 1866 Duke of Argyll Reign Law ii. (ed. 4) 53 And so we see the men of Theology coming out to parley with the men of Science. |
b. trans. To grant a parley, or an interview for discussion, to (a person); to hold discussion with, speak to, address.
| 1611 Heywood Gold. Age iii. Wks. 1874 III. 48 Beare Saturne first to prison, Wee'l after parly them. 1631 ― Maid of West v. Wks. 1874 II. 321 Conduct him safe where we will parly him. 1676 Row Contn. Blair's Autobiog. xi. (1848) 347 They parlied Lambert. 1839 Bailey Festus vi. (1852) 79 Would'st parley Luniel on her silver seat? |
Hence ˈparleying vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1692 Diary Siege Lymerick 16 The Cessation which began yesterday upon the Besieged's Parlying, continued till Ten a Clock the next Morning. 1803 Wordsw. Sonn., to Men of Kent, No parleying now! In Britain is one breath. 1887 Browning (title) Parleyings with certain People of Importance in their Day. |
▪ V. parley
see parlay n. and v.