privy purse
noun British.
a sum from the public revenues allotted to the sovereign for personal expenses.
a member of the royal household in charge of paying these expenses.
QUIZZES
DISCOVER THE INFLUENCE OF PORTUGUESE ON ENGLISH VIA THIS QUIZ!
We’ve gathered some interesting words donated to English from Portuguese … as well as some that just don’t translate at all. Do you know what they mean?
Question 1 of 11
Which of the following animal names traces its immediate origin to Portuguese?
Origin of privy purse
First recorded in 1655–65
Words nearby privy purse
priv. pr., privy, privy chamber, privy coat, privy council, privy purse, privy seal, prix fixe, Prix Goncourt, prize, prize court
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for privy purse
He was his lordship's page, and rode a hunting and hawking with him, and kept his privy-purse.
Brief Lives (Vol. 1 of 2)|John Aubrey
British Dictionary definitions for privy purse
privy purse
noun (often capitals)
- (in Britain) an allowance voted by Parliament for the private expenses of the monarch: part of the civil list
- (in other countries) a similar sum of money for the monarch
an official of the royal household responsible for dealing with the monarch's private expensesFull name: Keeper of the Privy Purse
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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