# purfle
## English
### Alternative forms

* purflew
* purfyle (13th - 15th centuries)

### Etymology

From Old French porfiler, from Latin pro- + filum (“thread”). Doublet of profile.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈpɜːfəl/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈpɝfəl/

### Noun

purfle (plural purfles)
* An ornamental border on clothing, furniture or a violin; beading, stringing.
** 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xxvij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:the messager came for kyng Arthurs berd / For kyng Ryons had purfyled a mantel with kynges berdes / […] / wherfor he sente for his berd or els he wold entre in to his landes / […] / & neuer leue tyl he haue the hede and the berd / wel sayd Arthur thow hast said thy message / the whiche is the most vylaynous and lewdest message that euer man herd sente vnto a kynge / Also thow mayst see / my berd is ful yong yet to make a purfyl of hit(please add an English translation of this quotation)
* (heraldry) An ornamental border, edge, or line of a different tincture or material.
** 1726, John Guillim, The banner display'd: or, An abridgment of Guillim [in his Display of heraldrie] by S. Kent, page 43:Adumbration (or Transparency) is a clear Exemption of the Substance of the Charge, so that there remaineth only the outward Strokes or Purfle of a Thing;
** 1804, Alexander Nisbet, A system of heraldry, speculative and practical, page 117:Cross […] has its extremities ending in a flower of three leaves, or flower-de-luces, with a purfle, or line between them and the ends of the cross.

### Verb

purfle (third-person singular simple present purfles, present participle purfling, simple past and past participle purfled)
* (transitive, archaic) To decorate (wood, cloth etc.) with a purfle or ornamental border; to border.
** 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xxvij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:And this was his message gretynge wel kynge Arthur in this manere wyse sayenge / that kynge Ryons had discomfyte and ouercome xj kynges / […] / they gaf hym their berdys clene flayne […] / wher for the messager came for kyng Arthurs berd / For kyng Ryons had purfyled a mantel with kynges berdes / and there lacked one place of the mantel(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 10:He had a faire companion of his way, / A goodly Lady, clad in ſcarlot red, / Purfled with gold and pearle of rich aſſay, […]
** 1885, Sir Richard Burton, “The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad”, in The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume 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, Villa Incognito:Remembering the exchange now, Dickie smiled that winning southern-boy smile. Then he went glum again. He thumped the purfled sound board.
* (heraldry, transitive) To ornament with purfle.
** 1815, John Wilkes, Encyclopaedia Londinensis, page 606:Crest; a dragon passant proper, wings elevated and purfled gules.

#### Translations
### Related terms

* purfling
* purl
* profile