Dictionary

purpureal en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /pɜːˈpjʊə.ɹɪ.əl/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /pɝˈp(j)ʊ.ɹi.əl/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Latin purpureus (“purple, violet; brown, reddish; clothed in purple; (figurative) brilliant, shining; beautiful”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Purpureus is either derived: * from purpura (“the colour purple; purple-fish (Hexaplex trunculus)”) (from Ancient Greek πορφῠ́ρᾱ (porphŭ́rā, “purple-fish; purple dye obtained from it; purple-dyed cloth; purple stripe or other adornment of a garment”), from πορφύρω (porphúrō, “to redden”)) + -eus (suffix forming adjectives from nouns); or * from Ancient Greek πορφύρεος (porphúreos, “of a purple colour”), from πορφῠ́ρᾱ (porphŭ́rā) (see above) + -εος (-eos).

Meanings

1. (literary, poetic) Of a purple colour.
   • Above the altar-lace / he mounted a triptych of the Assumption / with coarse, purpureal clouds, a prescient Madonna / drawn from Leonardo's "Our Lady of the Rocks." 1973, Derek Walcott, “[Homage to Gregorias] Chapter 10”, in Another Life, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 63:
   • [T]he fair star / That gems the glittering coronet of morn, / Sheds not a light so mild, so powerful, / As that which, bursting from the Fairy's form, / Spread a purpureal halo round the scene, / Yet with an undulating motion, / Swayed to her outline gracefully. 1813, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Canto I”, in Queen Mab; […], London: […] P. B. Shelley, […], →OCLC, page 6:
   • Of all that is most beauteous—imaged there / In happier beauty; more pellucid streams, / An ampler ether, a diviner air, / And fields invested with purpureal gleams; [...] 1815, William Wordsworth, “[Poems Founded on the Affections.] Laodamia.”, in Poems […], volume I, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1815, →OCLC, page 229:
   • [G]liding thro' his daughter's honour'd ſhades, / The ſmooth Penéus from his glaſſy flood / Reflects purpureal Tempe's pleaſant ſcene? 1744, [Mark Akenside], “Book the First”, in The Pleasures of Imagination. A Poem. In Three Books, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 16, lines 296–298:
   • But not ere him who summoneth / I first have seen, enwound / With glooming robes purpureal, cypress-crowned; [...] 1893, Francis Thompson, “The Hound of Heaven”, in The Works of Francis Thompson, volume I (Poems), New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons […], published 1913, →OCLC, page 112:

Forms

Relateds

purpured · purpurate · purpurize · purpurein · purpuric · purpurisse · purpuraceous · purpura · purply · purpureously · purpurescent · purpurean · purpurine · purpurissum · purpurare · purpuroid · purpurin · purpurite · purpuriparous · purpureous · purpurated · purpurous · purple · purpuress · purpurogallin · purpure · purpuriferous · purpurascent

Synonyms

purpuraceous · purpurate · purpureous · purpurine · purple · purpure · purpurean

Translations (1)

fr violâtre ((literary, poetic) of a purple colour — see also purple)