Chapter Punch to Puss in Boots of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Puritans Seceders from the Reformed Church; so called because they rejected all human traditions and interference in religion, acknowledging the sole authority of the “pure Word of God,” without “note or comment.” Their motto was: “The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible.” The English Puritans were sometimes by the Reformers called Precisionists, from their preciseness in matters called “indifferent.” Andrew Fuller named them Non-conformists, because they refused to subscribe to the Act of Uniformity.

Purkinge's Figures In optics, figures produced on a wall of uniform colour when a person entering a dark room with a candle moves it up and down approximately on a level with the eyes. From the eye near the candle an image of the retinal vessels will appear projected on the wall.

Purler (A). A cropper, or heavy fall from one's horse in a steeplechase or in the hunting-field (probably allied to hurl and whirl).

“Seraph's white horse ... cleared it, but falling with a mighty crash, gave him a purler on the opposite side.”- Ouida: Under Two Flags, chap. vi.

Purlieu (2 syl.). Frenen pourallé lieu (a place free from the forest laws). Henry II., Richard I., and John made certain lands forest lands; Henry III. allowed certain portions all round to be severed. These “rues,” or forest borders were freed from that servitude which was laid on the royal forests. The “perambulation” by which this was effected was technically called pourallée.

“In the purlieus of this forest stands
A sheepcote fenced about with olive-trees.”
Shakespeare: As You Like It, iv. 3.

Purple (blue and red) indicates the love of truth even unto martyrdom. (See under Colour , for its symbolisms, etc.)

Purple (Promotion to the). Promotion to the rank of cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church.

“Dr. Moran's promotion to the purple is certain.”- Newspaper paragraph.

Purpure [purple]. One of the colours of an heraldic escutcheon. It is expressed by vertical lines running down towards the left hand (as you look at the shield lying before you); “Vert” runs the contrary way.
   English heralds vary escutcheons by seven colours; foreign heralds by nine. (See Heralds.)

Pursy, Pursiness Broken-winded, or in a bloated state in which the wind is short and difficult. (French, poussi-f, same meaning.)
   A fat and pursy man. Shakespeare has “pursy Insolence,” the insolence of Jesurun, “who waxed fat and kicked.” In Hamlet we have “the fatness of these pursy times”- i.e. wanton or self-indulgent times.

Pururavas and Urvasi An Indian myth similar to that of “Apollo and Daphne.” Purûravas is a legendary king who fell in love with Urvasi, a heavenly nymph, who consented to become his wife on certain conditions. These conditions being violated, Urvasi disappeared, and Pururavas, inconsolable, wandered everywhere to find her. Ultimately he succeeded, and they were indissolubly united. (See Psyche .)

Puseyite (3 syl.). A High Churchman; so called from Dr. Pusey, of Oxford, a chief contributor to the Tracts for the Times. (See Tractarians .)

Puss A cat, hare, or rabbit. (Irish, pus, a cat.) It is said that the word, applied to a hare or rabbit, is from the Latin lepus, Frenchified into le pus. True or not, the pun may pass muster.

“Oh, puss, it bodes thee dire disgrace,
When I defy thee to the race,
Come, `tis a bet; nay, no denial,
I'll lay my shell upon the trial.”
The Hare and the Tortoise.

Puss in Boots [Le Chat Botté], from the Eleventh Night of Straparola's Italian fairy tales, where Constantine's cat procures his master a fine castle and the king's heiress. First translated into French in 1585. Our version is taken from that of Charles Perrault. There is a similar one in the Scandinavian nursery tales. This clever cat secures a fortune and a royal partner for his master, who passes off as the Marquis of Carabas, but is in reality a young miller without a penny in the world.