Purse

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Purse \Purse\, n. [OE. purs, pors, OF. burse, borse, bourse, F.
     bourse, LL. bursa, fr. Gr. ? 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Who steals my purse steals trash.     --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Hence, a treasury; finances; as, the public purse.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A sum of money offered as a prize, or collected as a
        present; as, to win the purse; to make up a purse.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A specific sum of money; as:
        (a) In Turkey, the sum of 500 piasters.
        (b) In Persia, the sum of 50 tomans.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     {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.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Purse \Purse\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pursed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Pursing}.]
     1. To put into a purse.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I will go and purse the ducats straight. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To draw up or contract into folds or wrinkles, like the
        mouth of a purse; to pucker; to knit.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Thou . . . didst contract and purse thy brow.
                                                    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Purse \Purse\, v. i.
     To steal purses; to rob. [Obs. & R.]
     [1913 Webster]
  
           I'll purse: . . . I'll bet at bowling alleys. --Beau. &
                                                    Fl.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  purse
       n 1: a bag used for carrying money and small personal items or
            accessories (especially by women); "she reached into her
            bag and found a comb" [syn: {bag}, {handbag}, {pocketbook}]
       2: a sum of money spoken of as the contents of a money purse;
          "he made the contribution out of his own purse"; "he and
          his wife shared a common purse"
       3: a small bag for carrying money
       4: a sum of money offered as a prize; "the purse barely covered
          the winner's expenses"
       v 1: contract one's lips into a rounded shape
       2: gather or contract into wrinkles or folds; pucker; "purse
          ones's lips" [syn: {wrinkle}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  111 Moby Thesaurus words for "purse":
     Swiss bank account, abbreviate, and pence, assets, award, bag,
     balance, bank account, billfold, bottom dollar, bucks, budget,
     capital, cash, cash reserves, checking account, circumscribe,
     coarct, cocker, cockle, command of money, compact, compress,
     concentrate, condense, consolidate, constrict, constringe,
     contract, corrugate, cramp, crease, crimp, crimple, crinkle,
     crumple, curtail, decrease, dollars, dough, draw, draw in,
     draw together, exchequer, filthy lucre, finances, fund, funds,
     furrow, gift, handbag, income, kitty, knit, knot, life savings,
     lolly, loot, means, money, money belt, money clip, moneys, narrow,
     nest egg, pecuniary resources, pelf, pocket, pocketbook, poke,
     pool, porte-monnaie, pouch, pounds, present, prize, pucker,
     pucker up, purse strings, ready, reduce, reserves, resources,
     revenue, reward, riches, ridge, rimple, ripple, ruck, ruckle,
     rumple, savings, savings account, scratch, shekels, shillings,
     shirr, shorten, solidify, strangle, strangulate, substance,
     treasure, treasury, unregistered bank account, wallet, wealth,
     wherewithal, wimple, wrinkle
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Purse
     (1.) Gr. balantion, a bag (Luke 10:4; 22:35, 36).
     
       (2.) Gr. zone, properly a girdle (Matt. 10:9; Mark 6:8), a
     money-belt. As to our Lord's sending forth his disciples without
     money in their purses, the remark has been made that in this
     "there was no departure from the simple manners of the country.
     At this day the farmer sets out on excursions quite as extensive
     without a para in his purse; and a modern Moslem prophet of
     Tarshisha thus sends forth his apostles over this identical
     region. No traveller in the East would hestitate to throw
     himself on the hospitality of any village." Thomson's Land and
     the Book. (See {SCRIP}.)
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PURSE. In Turkey the sum of five hundred dollars is called a purse. Merch. 
  Dict. h.t.