[ˈpəːljuː], (Noun)

Definitions:
- the area near or surrounding a place
(e.g: the photogenic purlieus of Cambridge)

- a tract on the border of a forest, especially one earlier included in it and still partly subject to forest laws
(e.g: they wished the purlieus to be completely free from the Forest law)


Phrases:

Origin:
late 15th century (denoting a tract on the border of a forest): probably an alteration (suggested by French lieu ‘place’) of Anglo-Norman French puralee ‘a going round to settle the boundaries’