burse

American  

[burs] / bɜrs /

noun

1. a pouch or case for some special purpose.

2. (in Scotland)

   1. a fund to provide allowances for students.

   2. an allowance so provided.

3. Ecclesiastical. a case or receptacle for a corporal.

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burse British  

/ bɜːs /

noun

1. RC Church a flat case used at Mass as a container for the corporal

2. 1. a fund providing allowances for students

   2. the allowance provided

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Etymology

Origin of burse

1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French < Late Latin bursa purse; see bursa

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

burse

The priest replaced the purificator, paten, and pall upon the chalice; once more pinched the two large folds of the veil together, and laid upon it the burse containing the corporal.

From Abbe Mouret's Transgression by Émile Zola

Mass had been said not long since, and the chalice covered with the veil and burse was still on the altar.

From Antony Gray,—Gardener by Leslie Moore

A student to whom a stipend is paid out of a burse or fund appropriated for that purpose, as the exhibitioners sent to the universities in Scotland, by each presbytery.—Webster.

From A Collection of College Words and Customs by Benjamin Homer Hall

We have heard of a conseillers sone in Poictiers who gave in a burse 10000 livres in gold.

From Publications of the Scottish History Society, Volume 36 Journals of Sir John Lauder Lord Fountainhall with His Observations on Public Affairs and Other Memoranda 1665-1676 by Lord John Lauder Fountainhall

When not in use both corporal and pall are carried in a square silken pocket called the burse.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 4 "Coquelin" to "Costume" by Various