1439 in (1868) 25 118 (MED) The whiche roof shal be wrought of vj pryncepal couplys archebounden..havyng atwix eche two princepals a purloyne, a iope, and iiij sparrys, havyng a rof tre abovyn.
1448–9 in (1851) 9 40 The principalls shalbe..x inch thik with a purlyn in the middes from one principall to a nother.
1484 in J. H. Parker (ed. 5) I. 377 The..over purloyn for the seid floor.
1527 (Public Rec. Office) For sawynge of sparrs and syderasons and purlynes ij days. ij s.
1534–5 in E. Law (1885) 354 26 spandrells standyng in the plum basys under the nether purloyns in the Kinges New Hall.
1663 B. Gerbier 45 The Purlains for the Roof.
?1677 S. Primatt 86 Four Purlines, being between eighteen and one and twenty foot long, and twelve and nine inches in thickness.
1714 S. Sewall 16 July (1973) II. 763 Split the principal Rafter next that end, to the purloin.
1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in II. 351 Sidewaver, the purline of a roof.
1841 W. Whewell iv. 58 The covering of the roof usually does not rest immediately upon the rafters, but upon..purlines.
1881 §1328 Common rafters..are notched slightly on the under side to fit over the purlins.
1917 21 139 The discrepancy in the comparative size of the joists and rafters he explains on the assumption that the joists supported the rafters in mid span by posts and purlins.
1949 H. M. Cautley 30 The tenoning of collar, hammer-beams and hammer-ports being so placed that they do not coincide with the tenons of purlins.
2003 G. Biddle 357/1 The unusual latticed iron purlins are particularly neat.