To purvey is to supply things to people — goods, food, services, or information — usually as a kind of business, not as a one-off favour. A shop may purvey tea; a firm may purvey legal advice. The verb is formal and a little old-fashioned. Most people simply say supply, sell, or provide. Though actually, when journalists use it now, they often mean the less physical kind: someone purveys gossip, or purveys a story about the world. That use can sound a little judging, as if the person is handing out something you might not fully trust. Long ago, officers of a court or an army could purvey food for a journey — gather supplies as an official job — and a faint grand, official smell still hangs on the word. You do not purvey a sandwich to a friend; you just give it.