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Purfle
4 dictionary results for: Purfle
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
pur·fle       [pur-fuhl] Pronunciation Key verb, -fled, -fling, noun
–verb (used with object)
1.to finish with an ornamental border.
2.to decorate (a shrine or tabernacle) with architectural forms in miniature.
–noun
3.Also called purfling. an ornamental border, as the inlaid border near the outer edge of the table and back of a stringed instrument.
[Origin: 1275–1325; ME purfilen < MF porfiler to make or adorn a border, equiv. to por- pro1 + filer to spin, deriv. of fil thread < L fīlum. See profile]

—Related forms
purfler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
pur·fle       (pûr'fəl)  Pronunciation Key 
tr.v.   pur·fled, pur·fling, pur·fles
To finish or decorate the border or edge of.

n.   also pur·fling (-flĭng)
An ornamental border or edging.


[Middle English purfilen, from Old French porfiler, from Vulgar Latin *prōfīlāre : Latin prō-, forth; see pro-1 + Latin fīlum, thread; see gwhī- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Purfle

Pearl"ins\, Pearlings \Pearl"ings\, n. pl. [Prob. a corruption of purflings. See Purfle.] A kind of lace of silk or thread. [Scot.] --Sir W. Scott.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Purfle

Pro"file\, n. [It. profilo, fr. L. pro before + filum a thread, an outline, shape: cf. F. profil. See File arow, and cf. Purfle, Purl, a fringe.]

1. An outline, or contour; as, the profile of an apple.

2. (Paint & Sculp.) A human head represented sidewise, or in a side view; the side face or half face.

3. (a) (Arch.) A section of any member, made at right angles with its main lines, showing the exact shape of moldings and the like. (b) (Civil Engin.) A drawing exhibiting a vertical section of the ground along a surveyed line, or graded work, as of a railway, showing elevations, depressions, grades, etc.

Profile paper (Civil Engin.), paper ruled with vertical and horizontal lines forming small oblong rectangles, adapted for drawing profiles.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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