purplyadj.
/ˈpəːpl̩i/, /ˈpəːpli/, U.S. /ˈpərp(ə)li/ Designating or characterized by a purple colour or tint; purplish.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > purple or purpleness > [adverb]
purpureously1675
purply1725
purply1753
the world > matter > colour > named colours > purple or purpleness > [adjective] > purplish
purplish1562
purply1725
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at May blossom That Part which is purply in the Flower..is good against the Squincy.
1748 A. Philips Pastorals, Epist., Odes & Other Orig. Poems 26 Honeysuckles of a purply dy..bright-waving.
1787 W. Beckford Portuguese Jrnl. 7 July (1954) 125 The report..has..called up new fire into his purply countenance.
1842 G. Darling in Hist. Berwickshire Naturalists' Club 2 x. 4 He took Smelts of the salmon with their..dark purply fins.
1878 Scribner's Monthly Dec. 210/2 I have lovely memories of..the ‘Needles’ shooting up their purply points within sight of the inn on the cliff where I spent the first night.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xi. [Sirens] 257 Father Cowley blushed to his brilliant purply lobes.
1942 Dunkirk (N.Y.) Evening Observer 30 Dec. 3/2 Some business suits have a purply hue.
1995 B. Bryson Notes from Small Island (1996) vi. 100 A long, majestic curve of crumbly cliffs and wide golden beaches stretching from below the Isle of Wight to the purply Purbeck hills.
Compounds
Modifying colour words to form adjectives and nouns, as purply-brown, purply-gold, purply-grey, etc.
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1754 F. Watson Animal World Display'd iii. 274 The Colour of the whole Bird is green..and this is shaded by a Tinge of a deep purply blue.
?1805–6 H. C. Andrews Botanist’s Repository VII. Pl. CCCCLIII The inside of the scales of the empalement are of a bright flesh colour, and the outside of a purply brown.
1829 E. Elliott Village Patriarch in Poet. Wks. (1876) I. 308 Heaven's gates are like an angel's wing, with plumes Of glorious green and purply gold on fire.
1895 Chambers's Jrnl. 12 774/1 The warmth of the soft sienna browns, and the rich purity of the purply grays.
1905 Burlington Mag. June 197 The chief characteristics of Mennecy porcelain are the ivory colour of the paste and a purply-rose colour.
1942 Jrnl. Ecol. 30 98 This gall-acacia has very long leaves of a rich dark green colour, contrasting with the deep purply brown of the younger branches.
1994 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 28 Aug. 21/3 A purply red complexion with a swollen nose shows an excess of heat in the heart.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
purplyadv.
/ˈpəːpl̩i/, /ˈpəːpli/, U.S. /ˈpərp(ə)li/ With a purple colour or tinge; with purple; (figurative) in a purple manner; floridly, elaborately.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > named colours > purple or purpleness > [adverb]
purpureously1675
purply1725
purply1753
1753 J. Werge Coll. Orig. Poems, Ess. & Epist. 31 Her pimpl'd, purply-glowing nose Shines with a greater lustre Than the ripe, swelling, red grape.
1766 W. Perfect Laurel-wreath I. 149 Yon fair flow'rs, that look so purply gay, will wither soon.
1817 R. C. Sands Bridal of Vaumond iii. xii. 164 Plate and mail and sinew brast, Flash'd..Then rose again, all purply streaming.
1885 E. Douglas Queen of Hid Isle i. i. 13 On thy cheeks, unfurrowed by a tear, Youth's florid gladness creeping purply through.
1943 Musical Times 84 205/1 The local newspaper printed a glib paragraph carefully avoiding all critical judgment, talking purply of a ‘treat for music lovers’.
1988 M. Bishop Unicorn Mountain (1989) xiii. 147 His shiner, in the miraculous light shed by the Bendix, was throbbing purply.
2004 New Criterion (Nexis) 1 June 48 It can be played aggressively, emotionally—almost purplely.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1725
adv.1753