I. ˈpərs, ˈpə̄s, ˈpəis, dial ˈpəs noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English purs, from Old English, modification (perhaps influenced by Old English pusa, posa bag) of Medieval Latin bursa, from Late Latin, oxhide, from Greek byrsa
1.
a. : a small bag closed with a drawstring and used to carry money ; broadly : a receptacle (as a handbag, pocketbook, or wallet) used to carry money and often other small objects about with one
b. : a pouch or other receptacle (as in a fishing net) that suggests a purse in form
c.
(1) archaic : a normal or abnormal bodily structure in the form of a pouch
(2) : scrotum — used chiefly of domestic animals
2.
a. : a money purse with its contents ; also : a sum of money : means , resources , funds
live within one's purse
all shared the common purse
charities from his private purse
b.
(1) : a sum of money offered as a prize or as a present
a race with a purse of $3000
collected a purse to help the flood victims
(2) : purse race
c. archaic : a definite sum of money in the Muslim Orient
in imperial Turkey a purse of silver equaled 500 piasters, a purse of gold, 10,000
3. : a splinter or spark that pops from an open fire
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English pursen, from purs purse
transitive verb
1. : to put into a purse
I will … purse the ducats — Shakespeare
2. obsolete : to enclose and hold as if in a purse : shut up or off : confine
3.
a. : to draw up or contract into folds or wrinkles like the mouth of a purse : pucker , knit
didst contract and purse thy brow — Shakespeare
b. : to draw closed (the mouth of a purse seine)
intransitive verb
: to become puckered : draw some part (as one's lips or brow) up or together