Purvey lies

[Cunning Fox]

Is "purvey" a common verb to use in meaning of "to gossip"?
For example,

• She purveyed lies about my family.
• He purveyed nasty details about my dating life.
• They purveyed embarrassing stories about how I messed up that day.

Do these sound good to you? Are there any BrE and AmE differences?
With kind regards,

 

[5jj]

All three of your sentences sound unnatural to this speaker of BrE.

 

[emsr2d2]

Where did you find those three sentences? You must provide the source.

 

[Cunning Fox]

They're my own abominations.
How do you use the word "purvey" then?

 

[Rover_KE]

Click here and bookmark the site for future reference.

Try changing the search word to 'purveys', 'purveyed' and 'purveying' for more examples.

 

[Cunning Fox]

Thank you. Let's have a look at what Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers has to say about the verb "purvey":
- to sell or provide (commodities, esp foodstuffs) on a large scale
- to publish or make available (lies, scandal, etc)

Fraze.it doesn't provide an example of how the word can be used in its second meaning. In #1 I came up with a bunch of sentences on my own but they turned out unidiomatic at least in BrE. The question still remains how one might use idiomatically the verb in its second meaning.

 

[emsr2d2]

They're my own abominations.
How do you use the word "purvey" then?

To be honest, I'm not sure I've ever felt the need to use "purvey" as a verb. Once in a while, I might use "purveyor" to mean "seller/provider" but I'd probably use it in a slightly tongue-in-cheek way.

 

[probus]

As a speaker of AmE I would understand the intended meaning of your examples, but I'd never choose the verb purvey. So yes, it is uncommon in AmE.

 

[Cunning Fox]

You live and learn. I'll keep it in my passive vocabulary then. :-D
Thank you.