PURSE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Purse

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/pərs/ Listen

noun

Purse n.

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. " Who steals my purse steals trash."

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.

Purse pride, pride of money; insolence proceeding from the possession of wealth.

Purse rat. (Zool.) See Pocket gopher, under Pocket.

Sword and purse, the military power and financial resources of a nation.

verb

Purse v. t. (past & past part. pursed; pres. part. pursing)

1.

To put into a purse. "I will go and purse the ducats straight."

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."

Purse v. i. To steal purses; to rob. (Obs. & R.) "I'll purse:... I'll bet at bowling alleys."

See images of 'Purse'

Etymology of 'Purse'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Purse" Quotes from Famous Books

... may have desired by a timely arrest to prevent an open revolt, which would have meant immediate destruction of the whole band with women and children. Can any position be imagined more irritating that that of a careful man of business who is keeper of the purse for a company of heedless enthusiasts professing complete indifference to the value of money, misunderstanding the genius of their chief, and looking out every morning for some sign in the clouds, a prophecy of their immediate appointment as vicegerents of a power that would supersede ...

— Pages from a Journal with Other Papers • Mark Rutherford

... that she had once shaved off her eyebrows to promote their growth. Many patients in the asylum sit for a long time rocking themselves backwards and forwards; "and if spoken to, they stop their movements, purse up their eyes, depress the corners of the mouth, and burst out crying." In some of these cases, the being spoken to or kindly greeted appears to suggest some fanciful and sorrowful notion; but in other cases an effort of any kind excites weeping, independently of any sorrowful ...

— The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals • Charles Darwin

... year in the Low Country, and Marlborough himself said, 'Well done!' when I, with ten rank and file, held a bridge across a canal for half an hour against a company of French. He sent for me after it was over, but when he found I couldn't read or write he couldn't promote me; but he gave me a purse of twenty guineas, and I don't know but what that suited me better, for I am a deal more comfortable as a sergeant than I should have been as an officer; but you see, if you had been in my place ...

— The Bravest of the Brave - or, with Peterborough in Spain • G. A. Henty

... said, and went through the process of recollection; but very dimly, and with much labour. She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out her purse, and shook its contents into the man's hand; and then began meekly to unpin her shawl, although they had turned away without ...

— Mary Barton • Elizabeth Gaskell

... is it? That Reb stole my watch." Even yet it was amusing. He laughed at the remembrance of having been relieved by the prisoners of purse and watch. ...

— Westways • S. Weir Mitchell

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