E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Parol’les (3 syl.).
A man of vain words, who dubs himself “captain,” pretends to knowledge which he has not, and to sentiments he never feels. (French, paroles, a creature of empty words.) (Shakespeare: All’s Well that Ends Well.)
1
“I know him a notorious liar,
Think him a great way fool, solely a coward;
Yet these fixed evils sit so fit on him
That they take place … .”
Act i. 1.
He was a mere Parolles in a pedagogue’s wig. A pretender, a man of words, and a pedant. The allusion is to the bragging, faithless, slandering villain mentioned above.
