Purvey
name, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To prepare in advance (for or to do something); to plan, make provision. intransitive, obsolete
"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 supply with provisions wordnet
- 3 To furnish or provide. transitive
"Giue no ods to your foes, but do puruay / Your selfe of sword before that bloudy day:"
- 4 To procure; to get. transitive
"I mean to purvey me a wife after the fashion of the children of Benjamin."
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"Science doesn't purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism. It's a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It's a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. And this works, not just for the ordinary aspects of science, but for all of life."
Etymology
From Middle English purveyen, from Anglo-Norman purveer, purveir et al., Old French porveeir, porveoir, from Latin prōvidēre (“to provide”). Doublet of provide; compare prudent.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.