Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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PURVEY, n. [From Eng. purvey v.] The food supplied for a gathering, e.g. a funeral, wedding.Ags. 1990s:
Purvey: n. catering supply.Gsw. 1996 Herald (26 Apr) 23:
They explained that they were mourners and, having seen their granny off at the crematorium and having consumed the purvey, thought they would carry on the mourning at the karaoke on the grounds that the old gal would have liked that.Ayr. 1999:
At the purvey. To do the purvey. Lay the purvey on.Gsw. 2000 Herald (19 Oct) 21:
Perhaps the only bitter taste was when Labour Party organisers objected to the quality of the cups and saucers supplied by Glasgow Council for the purvey back at Kelvingrove.Gsw. 2000 Ian Pattison A Stranger Here Myself (2001) 74:
I've stopped now by a hole in the street where the Ibrox House used to be. After Father's funeral we went there for a ham purvey.Gsw. 2002 Herald (27 Apr) 3:
Now I am hardly one to criticise any excuse for a bevvy-up, but Tom Boyd for a hall of fame? A gold watch, a purvey from the Co-op, and a vote of thanks from the chairman would surely have been enough before he limped off to his beckoning career as a lollipop man.Sc. 2003 Herald (3 Apr) 18:
Oh, the endless, unforeseen problems of taking a funeral wake on tour. Not that Bright Colours Only, [Pauline Goldsmith's] solo show about death, mourning, memories, and living life to the full, was devised with any thought of it going on the road. Not with a full-size coffin as the crucial centrepiece, and not with a typical mourners' purvey — tea, sandwiches, and whisky ...