purse
noun
- a small bag, typically made of leather or fabric, used for carrying money and small personal items
verb
- to become wrinkled, pucker
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /pɜːs/ / /pɝs/ / /pɜɹs/
name
Etymology: A metonymic occupational surname for someone who made bags or purses, from Middle English purse.
- A surname from Middle English.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English purs, from Old English purs (“purse”), partly from pusa (“wallet, bag, scrip”) and partly from burse (“pouch, bag”). Old English pusa comes from Proto-West Germanic *pusō, from Proto-Germanic *pusô (“bag, sack, scrip”), 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”).
- A small bag for carrying money.
“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.”
- A handbag (small bag usually used by women for carrying various small personal items)
“Master leathercrafter does handcrafted wallets, belts, purses, handbags etc., supporting self and helpers. Good enough to carve fantst art and portraits into leather.”
- A quantity of money given for a particular purpose.
“It was a historic and a hefty battle when Myler and Percy were scheduled to don the gloves for the purse of fifty sovereigns.”
- A specific sum of money in certain countries: formerly 500 piastres in Turkey or 50 tomans in Persia.
verb
Etymology: From Middle English purs, from Old English purs (“purse”), partly from pusa (“wallet, bag, scrip”) and partly from burse (“pouch, bag”). Old English pusa comes from Proto-West Germanic *pusō, from Proto-Germanic *pusô (“bag, sack, scrip”), 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”).
- 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, https://archive.org/details/landofcockayne00seraiala 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, https://archive.org/details/littleangelother00andriala 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.”
- To draw up or contract into folds or wrinkles; to pucker; to knit.
“[…] thou […] didst contract and purse thy brow together, / As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain / Some horrible conceit: […]”
“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?"”
- To put into a purse.
“And I will go and purse the ducats straight,”
- To steal purses; to rob.
“Why I'll purse; if that raise me not, I'll bet at bowling alleys, or man whores: I would fain live by others.”