purvey

See also: Purvey

English

Alternative forms

• puruey (alternative typography, 14th-15th centuries)

Etymology

Borrowing from Anglo-Norman purveer, purveir et al., Old French porveeir, porveoir, from Latin prōvidēre (“to provide”). Compare provide, a doublet.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pəˈveɪ/, /pəːˈveɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɚˈveɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Verb

purvey (third-person singular simple present purveys, present participle purveying, simple past and past participle purveyed)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To prepare in advance (for or to do something); to plan, make provision.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter j, in Le Morte Darthur, book IV:

     A sayd the kynge / syn ye knowe of your aduenture puruey for hit / and put awey by your craftes that mysauenture / Nay said Merlyn it wylle not be / soo he departed from the kynge

2. (transitive) To furnish or provide.
   • Spenser

     Give no odds to your foes, but do purvey / Yourself of sword before that bloody day.

   • 2005, Lesley Brown, trans. Plato, Sophist, 223d:

     Those who sell their own products are distinguished from purveyors, who purvey what others produce.

3. (transitive) To procure; to get.
   • Sir Walter Scott

     I mean to purvey me a wife after the fashion of the children of Benjamin.

Translations

obsolete: to prepare in advance

• German: (vor)bereiten

to furnish, provide

• German: besorgen (de)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} voorbereiden (nl), ^{(please verify)} voorzien (nl)

• French: ^{(please verify)} preparer, ^{(please verify)} fournir (fr)

Related terms

• purveyor
• purview