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Webster 1913 Edition

Purse

Purse

,
Noun.
[OE.
purs
,
pors
, OF.
burse
,
borse
,
bourse
, F.
bourse
, LL. bursa, fr. Gr. [GREEK] hide, skin, leather. Cf.
Bourse
,
Bursch
,
Bursar
,
Buskin
.]
1.
A small bag or pouch, the opening of which is made to draw together closely, used to carry money in; by extension, any receptacle for money carried on the person; a wallet; a pocketbook; a portemonnaie.
Chaucer.
Who steals my
purse
steals trash.
Shakespeare
2.
Hence, a treasury; finances;
as, the public
purse
.
3.
A sum of money offered as a prize, or collected as a present;
as, to win the
purse
; to make up a
purse
.
4.
A specific sum of money
; as:
(a)
In Turkey, the sum of 500 piasters.
(b)
In Persia, the sum of 50 tomans.
Light purse
, or
Empty purse
,
poverty or want of resources.
–
Long purse
, or
Heavy purse
,
wealth; riches.
–
Purse crab
(Zool.)
,
any land crab of the genus
Birgus
, allied to the hermit crabs. They sometimes weigh twenty pounds or more, and are very strong, being able to crack cocoanuts with the large claw. They chiefly inhabit the tropical islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, living in holes and feeding upon fruit. Called also
palm crab
.
–
Purse net
,
a fishing net, the mouth of which may be closed or drawn together like a purse.
Mortimer.
–
Purse pride
,
pride of money; insolence proceeding from the possession of wealth.
Bp. Hall.
–
Purse rat
.
(Zool.)
See
Pocket gopher
, under
Pocket
.
–
Sword and purse
,
the military power and financial resources of a nation.

Purse

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Pursed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Pursing
.]
1.
To put into a purse.
I will go and
purse
the ducats straight.
Shakespeare
2.
To draw up or contract into folds or wrinkles, like the mouth of a purse; to pucker; to knit.
Thou . . . didst contract and
purse
thy brow.
Shakespeare

Purse

,
Verb.
I.
To steal purses; to rob.
[Obs. & R.]
I’ll
purse
: . . . I'll bet at bowling alleys.
Beau. & Fl.

Webster 1828 Edition

Purse

PURSE

,
Noun.
purs. [L. byrsa, an ox hide; Gr. id.]
1.
A small bag in which money is contained or carried in the pocket. It was formerly made of leather, and is still made of this material by common people. It is usually of silk net-work.
2.
A sum of money offered as the prize of winning in a horse race.
3.
In turkey, a sum of money, about f50 sterling, or $222.
4.
The public coffers; the treasury; as, to exhaust a nation's purse, or the public purse.
Long purse, or heavy purse, wealth; riches.
Light purse, or empty purse, poverty, or want of resources.
Sword and purse, the military power and wealth of a nation.

PURSE

,
Verb.
T.
To put in a purse.
1.
To contract into folds or wrinkles.
Thou didst contract and purse thy blow.

Definition 2024

purse

purse

English

Noun

A coin purse
A woman's purse for carrying small personal items

purse ‎(plural purses)

  1. A small bag for carrying money.
    • 1550 Mierdman, Steuen, The market or fayre of usurers
      And then muſt many a man occupie as farre as his purſe would reache, and ſtretche out his legges accordynge to the length of his couerlet.
  2. (US) A handbag (small bag usually used by women for carrying various small personal items)
  3. A quantity of money given for a particular purpose.
    • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, Episode 12, The Cyclops
      It was a historic and a hefty battle when Myler and Percy were scheduled to don the gloves for the purse of fifty sovereigns.
  4. (historical) A specific sum of money in certain countries: formerly 500 piastres in Turkey or 50 tomans in Persia.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

Verb

purse ‎(third-person singular simple present purses, present participle pursing, simple past and past participle pursed)

Two people with pursed lips
  1. (transitive) To press (one's lips) in and together so that they protrude.
    • 1901, Matilde Serao, The Land of Cockayne, translator not credited, London: Heinemann, Chapter IV, p. 72,
      The serving Sister pursed up her lips to remind him of the cloistral rule, almost as if she wanted to prevent any conversation between him and the nun.
    • 1916, Leonid Andreyev, "An Original" in The Little Angel and Other Stories, translated by W. H. Lowe, New York: Alfred Knopf, p. 85,
      Anton Ivanovich pursed up his lower lip so that his grey moustache pressed against the tip of his red pitted nose, took in all the officials with his rounded eyes, and after an unavoidable pause emitted a fat unctuous laugh.
    • 1979, Monty Python, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
      When you're feeling in the dumps
      Don't be silly chumps
      Just purse your lips and whistle – that's the thing.
    • 2002, R.M.W. Dixon, Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development, Cambridge University Press, 2004, Chapter 9, p. 403,
      […] Yidinj has just one prefix dja:- 'in the direction of' […] . There is a noun djawa 'mouth' in a number of neighbouring languages […] and it is likely that this developed into the prefix dja:-. The semantic motivation would be the fact that Aborigines typically indicate direction by pointing with pursed lips (in circumstances where Europeans would extend a hand or index finger).
  2. To draw up or contract into folds or wrinkles; to pucker; to knit.
    • 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, Act III, Scene 3, 1756-9,
      […] thou […] didst contract and purse thy brow together, / As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain / Some horrible conceit: […]
    • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 13,
      Upon hearing Billy's version, the sage Dansker seemed to divine more than he was told; and after a little meditation during which his wrinkles were pursed as into a point, quite effacing for the time that quizzing expression his face sometimes wore, "Didn't I say so, Baby Budd?"
  3. To put into a purse.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To steal purses; to rob.
    • 1616, Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, The Scornful Lady, Act I, Scene 1, in The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher, Edinburgh, 1812, Vol. 2, pp. 147-8,
      Why I'll purse; if that raise me not, I'll bet at bowling alleys, or man whores: I would fain live by others.

Synonyms

Translations

Anagrams

Estonian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpurse/

Noun

purse ‎(genitive purske, partitive purset)

  1. outburst
  2. eruption
  3. explosion
  4. spurt, gush

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

Finnish

Etymology

pursua, pursuta >

Noun

purse

  1. (metallurgy) flash

Declension

Inflection of purse (Kotus type 48/hame, no gradation)
nominative purse purseet
genitive purseen purseiden
purseitten
partitive pursetta purseita
illative purseeseen purseisiin
purseihin
singular plural
nominative purse purseet
accusative nom. purse purseet
gen. purseen
genitive purseen purseiden
purseitten
partitive pursetta purseita
inessive purseessa purseissa
elative purseesta purseista
illative purseeseen purseisiin
purseihin
adessive purseella purseilla
ablative purseelta purseilta
allative purseelle purseille
essive purseena purseina
translative purseeksi purseiksi
instructive — pursein
abessive purseetta purseitta
comitative — purseineen

Etymology

From Middle English purse, from Old English purs ‎(“purse”), partly from Old English pusa ‎(“wallet, bag, scrip”), and partly from Old English burse ‎(“pouch, bag”).

Old English pusa comes from Proto-Germanic *pusô ‎(“bag, sack, scrip”), from Proto-Indo-European *būs- ‎(“to swell, stuff”), and is cognate with Old High German pfoso ‎(“pouch, purse”), Low German pūse ‎(“purse, bag”), Old Norse posi ‎(“purse, bag”), Danish pose ‎(“purse, bag”). Old English burse comes from Medieval Latin bursa ‎(“leather bag”) (compare English bursar), from Ancient Greek βύρσα ‎(búrsa, “hide, wine-skin”).

Compare also Old French borse (French: bourse), Old Saxon bursa ‎(“bag”), Old High German burissa ‎(“wallet”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /pɜː(ɹ)s/
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s

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