PURVEYANCE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Purveyance

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noun

Purveyance n.

The act or process of providing or procuring; providence; foresight; preparation; management. "The ill purveyance of his page."

That which is provided; provisions; food.

(Eng. Law) A providing necessaries for the sovereign by buying them at an appraised value in preference to all others, and oven without the owner's consent. This was formerly a royal prerogative, but has long been abolished.

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Etymology of 'Purveyance'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Purveyance" Quotes from Famous Books

... royal threat to lay waste Kent in revenge for the death of the Duke of Suffolk; the wasting of the royal revenue raised by heavy taxation; the banishment of the Duke of York—"to make room for unworthy ministers who would not do justice by law, but demanded bribes and gifts"; purveyance of goods for the royal household without payment; arrest and imprisonment on false charges of treason by persons whose goods and lands were subsequently seized by the King's servants, who then "either compassed their deaths or kept them in prison while they got possession of their property ...

— The Rise of the Democracy • Joseph Clayton

... PRISAGE. In England there was an ancient right of the crown to purveyance or pre-emption, i.e. the right of buying up provisions and other necessities for the royal household, at a valuation, even without the consent of the owner. Out of this right originated probably that of taking customs, in return for the protection and maintenance ...

— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 - "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" • Various

... Reception of James I by the City. Catholic Plots. Purveyance. The City and Free Trade. Prince Henry a Merchant Taylor. The Gunpowder Plot. The King of Denmark in the City. The City's Water Supply. Hugh Middleton and the New River. The Plantation of Ulster. ...

— London and the Kingdom - Volume II • Reginald R. Sharpe

... world, became the most dreadful of its prisons. It is no wonder that the literature of these people should have been so filled with the patriotic passion of their life; and I am not sure that literature is not as nobly employed in exciting men to heroism and martyrdom for a great cause as in the purveyance of mere intellectual delights. What it was in Italy when it made this its chief business we may best learn from an inquiry that I have at last found somewhat amusing. It will lead us over vast meadows ...

— Modern Italian Poets • W. D. Howells

... General Turner coldly; "we refuse to be interesting to any simple Sassenach." Then he saw the confusion in the innkeeper's face and laughed. "Upon my word," he said, "here I'm as touchy as a bard upon a mere phrase. This is very good drink, Mr. Spencer; your purveyance, I suppose?" ...

— Gilian The Dreamer - His Fancy, His Love and Adventure • Neil Munro