Purfle

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈpəːfÉ™l/

Alternative forms

• purflew
• purfyle 13th - 15th centuries

Origin

From Old French porfiler, from Latin pro- + filum ("thread").

Full definition of purfle

Noun

1. An ornamental border on clothing, furniture or a violin; beading, stringing.

Verb

1. (transitive, archaic) To decorate (wood, cloth etc.) with a purfle or ornamental border; to border.
• 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book I:For kyng Ryons had purfyled a mantel with kynges berdes, and there lacked one place of the mantel, wherefor he sente for his berd ....
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene:Purfled with gold of rich assay.
• 1885, Richard Francis Burton, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, vol. 1:It came to pass on a certain day, as he stood about the street leaning idly upon his crate, behold, there stood before him an honourable woman in a mantilla of Mosul silk, broidered with gold and bordered with brocade; her walking shoes were also purfled with gold and her hair floated in long plaits.
• 2003, Tom Robbins, ,Remembering the exchange now, Dickie smiled that winning southern-boy smile. Then he went glum again. He thumped the purfled sound board.
2. (heraldry, transitive) To ornament with a bordure of ermines, furs, etc. or with gold studs or mountings.

Related terms

• purfling
• purl