purse

[purs] /pɜrs/
noun
1.
a woman's handbag or pocketbook.
2.
a small bag, pouch, or case for carrying money.
3.
anything resembling a purse in appearance, use, etc.
4.
a sum of money offered as a prize or reward.
5.
a sum of money collected as a present or the like.
6.
money, resources, or wealth.
verb (used with object), pursed, pursing.
7.
to contract into folds or wrinkles; pucker:
to purse one's lips.
8.
to put into a purse.
Origin
before 1100; (noun) Middle English, Old English purs, blend of pusa bag (cognate with Old Norse posi) and Medieval Latin bursa bag (≪ Greek býrsa hide, leather); (v.) Middle English pursen to put in a purse, derivative of the noun
Related forms
purseless, adjective
purselike, adjective
Can be confused
briefcase, handbag, pocketbook, purse, valise, wallet.
Examples from the web for purse
  • Depending on the airline you use, you'll often be allowed to bring on one personal item such as a purse as well as a second bag.
  • The boat, a big industrial vessel known as a purse seiner, was easy prey.
  • If you are looking for drugs, look no further than your wallet or purse.
  • And that may make her even more reluctant to open her purse.
  • And who then barges in to retrieve her purse that she left behind in her fluster to clear out.
  • Thinner and lighter than a netbook, tablets easily pack into a small bag or purse.
  • Those who hold the purse strings can shape the narrative anyway they wish in the information age.
  • If his scheme fails, the public purse has lost hardly a cent.
  • The public purse should not be a source of funding for sandbox projects.
  • It even fit into my larger purse and no doubt would fit fine in a backpack without any special cushioning.
British Dictionary definitions for purse

purse

/pɜːs/
noun
1.
a small bag or pouch, often made of soft leather, for carrying money, esp coins
2.
(US & Canadian) a woman's handbag
3.
anything resembling a small bag or pouch in form or function
4.
wealth; funds
5.
a sum of money that is offered, esp as a prize
verb
6.
(transitive) to contract (the mouth, lips, etc) into a small rounded shape
Word Origin
Old English purs, probably from Late Latin bursa bag, ultimately from Greek: leather
Word Origin and History for purse
n.

Old English pursa "little bag made of leather," especially for carrying money, from Medieval Latin bursa "leather purse" (source also of Old French borse, 12c., Modern French bourse; cf. bourse), from Late Latin bursa, variant of byrsa "hide," from Greek byrsa "hide, leather." Change of b- to p- perhaps by influence of Old English pusa, Old Norse posi "bag."

Meaning "woman's handbag" is attested from 1951. Meaning "sum of money collected as a prize in a race, etc.," is from 1640s. Purse-strings, figurative for "control of money," is from early 15c. Purse-snatcher first attested 1902 (earlier purse-picker, 1540s). The notion of "drawn together by a thong" also is behind purse-net (c.1400).

v.

c.1300, "put in a purse;" c.1600 as "draw together and wrinkle" (as the strings of a money bag), from purse (n.). Related: Pursed; pursing.

purse in the Bible

(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.)

Idioms and Phrases with purse

purse

In addition to the idiom beginning with purse also see: can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear