Purlieu 1. A piece or tract of land on the fringe or border of a forest; originally, one that, after having been (wrongly, as was thought) included within the bounds of the forest, was disafforested by a new perambulation, but still remained in some respects, especially as to the hunting or killing of game, subject to provisions of the Forest Laws.
2.transf. and fig. A place where one has the right to range at large; a place where one is free to come and go, or which one habitually frequents; a haunt; one's bounds, limits, beat.
b. Phrase. to hunt, follow one's game in purlieu, in the purlieus, to pursue illicit love. Obs
3.pl.  a.transf. The parts about the border of any place; the outskirts. arch.
b.fig. The region forming the outlying part of anything abstract. Cf. PALE n. 1 5. arch.
4. An outlying district of a city or town, a suburb (obs.); also, the meaner streets about some main thoroughfare; a mean, squalid, or disreputable street or quarter. Also attrib. 

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