purse

[purs]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR purse ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a woman's handbag or pocketbook.

a small bag, pouch, or case for carrying money.

anything resembling a purse in appearance, use, etc.

a sum of money offered as a prize or reward.

a sum of money collected as a present or the like.

money, resources, or wealth.

verb (used with object), pursed, purs·ing.

to contract into folds or wrinkles; pucker: to purse one's lips.

to put into a purse.

Origin of purse

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 formspurse·less, adjectivepurse·like, adjective

Can be confusedbriefcase handbag pocketbook purse valise wallet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for purse

pocketbook, pocket, wallet, bag, handbag, pouch, money, reward, prize, gift, wealth, pucker, poke, hide, leather, clutch, frame, sack, receptacle, bursa

Examples from the Web for purse

Contemporary Examples of purse

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
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
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
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
When I travel and kids run up to me, all that the girls want to do is look in my purse and put on my lip glosses and chapsticks.
Q&A With Designer Rachel Roy
Cynthia Allum
November 3, 2014

Historical Examples of purse

A portly burgher was he, friendly of tongue and free of purse.
The Armourer's Prentices
Charlotte M. Yonge
It is impossible to doubt that this passion is fatal to more than the purse.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
Any trifle will serve—a purse of gold, or even a jewelled goblet.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
"The purse I have already given you, Edricson," continued the lady.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
"If your cask is leer, I warrant your purse is full, gaffer," shouted Hordle John.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle

British Dictionary definitions for purse

purse

noun

a small bag or pouch, often made of soft leather, for carrying money, esp coins

US and Canadian a woman's handbag

anything resembling a small bag or pouch in form or function

wealth; funds

a sum of money that is offered, esp as a prize

verb

(tr) to contract (the mouth, lips, etc) into a small rounded shape

Word Origin for purse

Old English purs, probably from Late Latin bursa bag, ultimately from Greek: leather

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

Word Origin and History for purse

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).

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.

Idioms and Phrases with purse

purse

In addition to the idiom beginning with purse

purse strings

also see:

can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear