PURFLEW • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Purflew

... every lady and the beard of every knight that passed." This toll was established because sir Crudor, with whom she was in love, refused to marry her till she had provided him with human hair sufficient to "purfle a mantle" with. Sir Crudor, having been overthrown in knightly combat by sir Calidore, who refused to pay "the toll demanded," is made to release Briana from the condition imposed on her, and Briana swears to discontinue the discourteous ...

— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1 - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook • The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D.