privy purse

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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.

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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. 2023

How to use privy purse in a sentence

On one summer lunch hour, Donna Ann Levonuk, 50, lifted a tub of diaper cream priced at $43.98—and then stashed it in her purse.
The Insane $11 Billion Scam at Retailers’ Return Desks|M.L. Nestel|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The padlocked door down the hall was now open, and I found my purse.
I Was Gang Raped at a UVA Frat 30 Years Ago, and No One Did Anything|Liz Seccuro|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She retrieved a cigarette from her purse and lit it without moving her face away from the screen.
I Watched a Casino Kill Itself: The Awful Last Nights of Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal|Olivia Nuzzi|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Available at La Boîte SHOLDIT Clutch Wrap Purse, $70 We can all agree the dorky passport holders and money bags have got to go.
The Daily Beast’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: For the Anthony Bourdain in Your Life|Allison McNearney|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST

These are longer than traditional ads, mini-stories, designed to pull at heart- as well as purse strings.
How Monty The Penguin Won Christmas: Britain’s Epic, Emotional Commercials|Tim Teeman|November 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Absently his hands wandered through the pockets, and found his purse and the money in an outside pocket.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
I turned round, thrust my purse into the lap of the nearest, and with a light heart led the lady back to the hotel.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846|Various
Ernest called out; "you have forgotten your money;" and he held out a purse, but the man was gone.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846|Various
It has been said that the Duke betrayed the Bourbons and was privy to the Emperor's return, but this is a calumny.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison
A Cremona Violin is, to a rich amateur, a loadstone that is sure to attract the shining metal from the depths of his purse.
Violins and Violin Makers|Joseph Pearce

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 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012