| 释义 |
▪ I. purse, n.|pɜːs|
Forms: see below.
[OE. and ME. purs, app. ad. late L. bursa purse (whence OF. borse (12th c.), F. bourse, Pr., It. borsa, Sp., Pg. bolsa); the later forms pors, pours, and those with final e, porse, pourse, purse, were evidently influenced by the Fr. word.
The initial p for b is not certainly explained: influence of OE. pusa, posa, ON. posi bag, has been suggested. As to the loss of the final vowel, if the word was taken as a strong feminine, it would naturally have the form purs, in oblique cases purse. L. bursa (byrsa), a. Gr. βύρσα hide, leather, appears in the grammarians Servius and Donatus c 385, and appears to be confined to glossaries before a.d. 600; it is glossed corium. For history see Körting s.v.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
(α) 1, 3–6 purs, 3–4 pors, 4 pours.
a1100Gloss Aldhelm in Napier OE. Glosses (1900) 187/36 Fiscus, Purs vel Seod. c1290S. Eng. Leg. i. 62/293 Þe pors al amti was and peni bi-lefte non. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 110 Lyk a leþerne pors lullede his chekes. 1390Gower Conf. I. 249 This Ring..Out of his Pours awey he dede. Ibid. II. 298 Bot crepe into mi purs ayein. c1440Promp. Parv. 417/1 Purs, or burs, bursa. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 10 Dooe ye after him that beareth the purs.
(β) 3 (in oblique case), 4– purse, (4–6 porse, pourse, 5 porce, 5–7 purce, 6 pursse).
c1250Lutel Soth Sermun 39 in O.E. Misc. 188 Euer of þe purse þat seluer heo tulleþ. 1340Porse [see B. 1]. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 409 Seelde þey bereþ purse aboute. c1440Porce [see B. 8 b]. 1530Palsgr. 657/1 Whyle I talked with the one of them, the other pyked my purce. 1545Rates of Customs c ij, Porses for chyldren. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VII 26 He lay..sore sicke of the fluxe of ye pursse. 1549Latimer 3rd Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 88 Had they a standynge at shooters hyll..to take a pourse? 1611Purce-emptier [see B. 10].
B. Signification.
I. A money-bag or -receptacle and its contents.
1. a. A small pouch or bag of leather or other flexible material, used for carrying money on the person; originally a small bag drawn together at the mouth with a thong or strings, now of various shapes and fastened in various ways.
a1100[see A. α]. a1225Ancr. R. 168 Hit is beggares rihte uorte beren bagge on bac, & burgeises for to beren purses. a1300Cursor M. 15967 (Cott.) Moder, i haf my maister sald,..And in mi purs þe pris i bere. 1340Ayenb. 53 Þanne ssolle we betuene þe porse and þe wombe of þe glotoune: habbe a uayr strif. Þe wombe zayþ ‘ich wylle by uol’. Þe purs zayþ ‘ich wylle by uol’. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 301 Pore of possessioun in purse and in coffre. c1399Chaucer Purse 1 To yow my purse..Complayn I, for ye be my lady dere: I am so sory now that ye been lyght. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xvi. 74 His purs full of gold. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 22 There is nothing in this worlde that agreeth wurs, Then dooeth a Ladies hert and a beggers purs. 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 195 Preistis, keip no gold, Siluer nor cunȝe in ȝour purs. 1604Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 345 Put Money in thy purse. 1630B. Jonson New Inn i. i, A heavy purse makes a light heart. a1694Tillotson Serm. clxiv. (1743) IX. 389 He is an impudent villain in deed, that will venture to cut a purse in the presence of the judge. 1884M. E. Braddon Ishmael iv, The kind old man opened his purse, and gave all its contents to his pupil.
fig.1898Daily News 13 Jan. 5/1 The rather hard saying [attributed to Bp. Stubbs] that London has always been the purse, seldom the head, never the heart of England.
b. transf. Something drawn together tightly like a purse: cf. purse v. 4.
1714Mandeville Fab. Bees (1729) II. iv. 170 We are forc'd to draw our Mouth into a Purse,..bite our Lips, or squeeze them close together.
2. a. A purse with its contents; hence transf. money, funds; esp. with qualifications, as a common purse, funds possessed and shared by a number of people in common; a heavy or long purse, wealth; a light purse, poverty; the public purse, the national treasury or wealth. privy purse: see privy a. 9.
c1350in Eng. Gilds 357 For commune profyȝt vp-on þe commune porse. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 49 My purs was falle in grete rerage. 1432–43in Cal. Proc. Chanc. Q. Eliz. I. (1827) Introd. 23 He and other of his craft have made a comyn purce to wythstond us. c1440Promp. Parv. 275/2 Kyngys purs, or burs, fiscus. 1535Coverdale Prov. i. 14 Cast in thy lott amonge us, we shal haue all one purse. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 8, I build my house..according to my purse. 1598Shakes. Merry W. i. iii. 59 The report goes, she has all the rule of her husbands Purse. 1604― Oth. iii. iii. 157 Who steales my purse, steales trash. 16243rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 34/1 Adversaries too potent in purse and friends for her to wage law with. 1640Ibid. 81/2 To remain in France upon your own purse. 1652J. Wright tr. Camus' Nat. Paradox ix. 212 It was enough to let their Purses blood. 1748Richardson Clarissa IV. 87 If she make a private purse, which we are told by anti-matrimonialists, all wives love to do. 1771Junius Lett. lix. (1820) 308 Let bounties be increased as far as the public purse can support them. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. II. vii. 124 It requires a very considerable political developement for a nation to feel that the power of the purse is the surest safe⁓guard of freedom.
b. Phrases (often in collocation with person): † by or in the purse, by fine (obs.); purse and person, one's money and oneself; † to be out of purse, to be the loser, to be out of pocket (obs.).
13..K. Alis. 1798 That he wol you bete, and chast. By the top, and by the purs. c1386Chaucer Prol. 657 In his purs he sholde ypunysshed be. a1552Leland Itin. IV. §3. 16 [He] was twise taken Prisoner, wherby he was much punished by the Purse. 1582Stanyhurst Aeneis ii. (Arb.) 69 Thee yoonger Troians..Round to me dyd cluster, with purse and person. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 138 My purse, my person, my extreamest meanes Lye all vnlock'd to your occasions. 1615E. S. Britain's Buss in Arber Garner III. 635 The Owner and Adventurer of such a Buss shall not be out of purse. 1702Guide Constables 8 Constables..which are out of purse for their charges. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. x, You feel so keenly in your own purse and person the consequences of inattention to business. 1866Chamb. Jrnl. 261 (Forest Laws) Where the offender could not pay in purse, he had to pay in person.
3. A sum of money collected as a present or the like; a sum subscribed as a prize for the winner in a race or other contest.
1650R. Stapylton Strada's Low-C. Warres vii. 77 The same Merchants making a Purse..bought great store of Victuall, and therewith lading a Ship sent it to the Poore at Mechlin. 1699Bentley Phal. xv. 496 His Friends made a Purse for him, when he was to travel to ægypt. 1724Lond. Gaz. No. 6292/2 No Horse..shall be admitted to Run for this Purse, that ever won the Value of 10 l. 1886Pall Mall G. 20 Aug. 11/1 Few racing stables do pay their expenses in the money won in purses. 1891Sporting Life 3 Apr. (Farmer), If any club or gentleman will give a purse for him to face the victorious one in the match referred to. 1903Daily Chron. 31 Mar. 8/1 Payment of {pstlg}500 per annum to [the] former mayor of the borough, [as] a mayoral purse to reimburse him for the expenses connected with the office. 1967Boston Globe 5 Apr. 51/1 Race horse owners, irked at the New York state legislature for failing to approve the money necessary for increased purses, [etc.]. 1976Columbus (Montana) News 27 May 2/5 The four-day tourney..will offer a 72-hole medal play with a $25,000 purse. 1976Scotsman 24 Dec. 15/2 Valsecchi refused a {pstlg}25,000 purse offered by British match-makers to stage the defence in England as he preferred not to give up the advantage of fighting at home.
4. A rendering of Arab., Pers., Turkish kīsah, kīseh ‘purse’, used in the Turkish empire for a definite sum of money.
the purse (of silver) was = 500 piastres; the purse of gold was = 10,000 piastres.
1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2198/1 The Sultana [offers] 4000 Purses, of 500 Crowns each. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 67 When they say a Purse, they understand five hundred Piastres, or fourty five thousand Aspres. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) II. viii. iii. 195 note, Garouche or purses, each of five hundred dollars of four shillings value. 1796J. Morse Am. Geog. II. 462 The public revenue amounts to 89955 purses, at 500 piastres each. 1880E. Schuyler in Macm. Mag. Oct. 435/1 The sum of 15,000 purses (900,000l.) was paid to Russia as a war indemnity.
5. A fragment of live coal starting out of the fire with a report: regarded as a prognostic of good fortune.
(According to some, it is a ‘purse’ when it rings or rattles, a ‘coffin’ when it falls dead.)
1766Goldsm. Vic. W. x, The girls..had their omens,..purses bounced from the fire, and true love-knots lurked in the bottom of every teacup. 1863Sala Purse or Coffin 49 One of those red-hot cinders we call, from the ringing sound they make when cold, ‘purses’, and sometimes, from their odd, long shape, ‘coffins’.
II. A bag or bag-like receptacle generally.
6.
†a. A bag carried for any purpose; a wallet, scrip, pouch. Obs.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 311 ‘Hastow auȝte in þi purs any hote spices?’ ‘I haue peper and piones’, quod she ‘and a pounde of garlike’. 14..Tretyce in W. of Henley's Husb. (1890) 50 Take heede to [the threshers] þat þey haue no poketes nor grete purses where as þey myght stelle and bere away your corne. 1466in Archæol. (1887) L. i. 41 Item j lytill purse of yollowe and dyuers relekes within hyt. 1552–3Inv. Ch. Goods, Staff. 88 A purce to bere the comunyon in. 1771Antiq. Sarisb. 189 One chest containing relicks of the eleven thousand Virgins in four purses.
†b. spec. One of the official insignia of the Lord High Chancellor of England; = burse 1.
1677in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 37 Some mischievous persons to dishonour my Lord Chancellour crept through a window of his house..and stole the mace and the two purses. 1901[see purse-bearer 2].
†c. The sporan of the Highland dress. Obs.
1779Ann. Reg. 230 The mutiny..was occasioned by Lord Frederick Campbell's having purchased at London purses for his regiment, which constitute a part of the Highland dress, and..3s. 6d. was stopped from each man for his purse.
†d. fig. Cf. pocket n. 3 c. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 308 What men þei [freris] shulden kille, oþer þer breþeren or aliens, þei holden ȝit in þeir purs. 1531Pilgr. Perf. 117 b, Whiche..at theyr deth fyndeth nothynge but vanite in the purse of theyr conscyence.
e. A woman's handbag. N. Amer.
1955W. Gaddis Recognitions i. ii. 77 A girl walking alone, swinging her purse. 1957New Yorker 12 Jan. 32/2 Bernadett's purse hung over her arm. 1979Kingston (Ont.) Whig-Standard 5 Apr. 24/3 The type of purse and the way you carry it can be enough to make purse snatchers or pickpockets think twice before choosing you as a victim.
7. transf.
a. Organ-building. A small leather bag formerly used in connexion with the pull-downs which passed through the bottom board of the wind-chest, to prevent the escape of wind.
1852Seidel Organ 28 To lead, instead of using the purse, the wire through the plates of steel or brass. 1881W. E. Dickson Organ Build. v. 66 This was formerly effected by ‘purses’ (French, boursettes), little leather bags, tied or otherwise attached to the pull-downs.
b. = cod n.1 5; also a purse-net.
1879Holdsworth in Encycl. Brit. IX. 247/1 The body of the net tapers away to the entrance to the purse. 1893J. Watson Conf. Poacher 126 A rabbit goes rolling over and over, entangled in the purse.
8. a. Applied to various natural receptacles (in animals or plants) resembling a bag or pocket; e.g. a pouch, a marsupium, a cyst, an ovicapsule.
1528Paynel Salerne's Regim. b iij b, The parte that gothe to the purse of the galle. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage viii. xiv. 816 With a naturall purse vnder her belly, wherein she putteth her young. 1634T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. iii. x. (1678) 94 The Pericardium, or Purse of the Heart. 1721Bradley Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat. 28 Stamina..terminated at their Tops by small Caps or Purses called Apices. 1769Pennant Zool. III. 63 The females [of the skate] begin to cast their purses as the fishermen call them (the bags in which the young are included). 1782A. Monro Compar. Anat. (ed. 3) 55 All fowls have..a..black triangular purse rising from the bottom of their eye just at the entry of the optic nerve. 1809Med. Jrnl. XXI. 152 Each convolution is a kind of small purse or canal, closed externally by a double layer of cineritious and medullary matter.
b. spec. The scrotum.
c1440Pallad. on Husb. iv. 740 Knytte hym fast in his porce. 1569R. Androse tr. Alexis' Secrets iv. i. 29 To remedie the itche of the purse of the testicles. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. II. s.v. Stoppage, A Fomentation..which you are to apply to the Purse of the Beast.
†9. Mining. A small cavity filled with gold or other ore; = pocket n. 7 a. Obs. rare.
1604E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. vi. 220 Mines of mettall..which were found as it were in purses, and not in fixed or continued veines.
III. attrib. and Comb.
10. a. Simple attrib., as purse clasp, purse-pocket, purse snap; (sense 3) purse distribution, purse end, purse money, purse offer, purse winnings; in sense ‘that is like a purse, pursed up’, as purse lip, purse mouth; b. objective or obj. genitive, as purse-maker, purse-sewer; esp. in colloq. and slang terms for a pickpocket or a swindler, as purse-catcher, purse-emptier, purse-lifter, purse-snatcher; so purse-milking, purse-snatching adjs.; c. locative, similative, parasynth., etc., as purse-eyed (see 1782 in 8), purse-like, purse-lined, purse-lipped, purse-mad, purse-pinched, purse-shaped, purse-swollen adjs.
1602T. Fitzherbert Apol. 8 A *pursecatcher vpon the high-way, &..a common horse-stealer.
1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 40/4 There would have to be a reduction of approximately 20 per cent in the aggregate *purse distribution.
1611Florio, Vuota⁓borse, a nicke-name giuen to Lawyers or Phisicians, a *purce-emptier. 1886Pall Mall G. 3 June 4/1 Worthy of ranking with Turpin, Paul Clifford, and the other celebrated purse-emptiers.
1928Sunday Express 16 Dec. 21/1 A *purse end of {pstlg}800 is more than Johnny need expect to receive in the States for his first fight.
1803Shaw Gen. Zool. IV. 599 *Purse⁓eyed Mackrel, Scomber Crumenophthalmus.
1900tr. Janssen Hist. Germ. People IV. 288 *Purse-lifters, loafers, depredators and thieves of all sorts.
1856Woodward Mollusca 71 Body short, *purse-like.
1624Capt. Smith Virginia Pref. 4 Thrust the beggar out of dores That is not *Purse-lyn'd.
1652Gaule Magastrom. 185 A *purse lip [forespeaks] a scraping sneak; and a blabber lip, a nasty slut.
1629― Holy Madn. 324 Beetle-brow'd, *Purse-lip't.
1817Coleridge Biog. Lit. 245 The Dane, whom he described as a fool, *purse-mad.
1630Canterbury Marr. Licences (MS.), Mathew Holt of All Saints', Canterbury, *pursemaker. 1907Daily News 22 Apr. 2 [He] had bought the purses from Hayes in the belief that he was a master pursemaker.
1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xv, Such a *purse-milking nation: Gown'd vultures, theeues, and a litigious rout Of coseners.
1898Kansas City Star 19 Dec. 3/1 Bingen's share of the *purse money amounted to only $4,650. 1971Sunday Express (Johannesburg) 28 Mar. 22/2 In Britain, many boxers sell batches of tickets to their followers instead of receiving purse money.
1855Tennyson Maud i. xviii, Maud with her sweet *purse-mouth when my father dangled the grapes.
1973Times 16 Mar. 13/6 The long awaited return match between Bobby Arthur and John Stracey for the British welterweight title..is now up for *purse offers.
1603J. Davies Microcosmos 14 *Purse-pinchèd and soule-pain'd.
1922Joyce Ulysses 430 Bloom pats..*pursepocket.
1905Daily Chron. 21 Jan. 6/3 Mother keeps him by going out to work as a *purse-sewer.
1776Withering Brit. Plants (1796) IV. 85 The fruit terminating, and *purse-shaped.
1902McNeill Egreg. Eng. 160 Gang of daylight robbers, *purse-snatchers, watch-snatchers.
1906Whiteing Ring in New 44 Two youths having been put away for a *purse-snatching case.
1823Coll. Poems (ed. Joanna Baillie) 210 *Purse-swol'n neighbours.
1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 20/4 In each of those starts he was carrying between 119 and 123 pounds because of his *purse winnings in South America.
11. Special Combinations: purse-bag, a handbag, often having a purse incorporated or attached; purse-belt = money-belt s.v. money n. 8; ˈpurse-board: see quot. and 7 a; purse boat, a large boat used in fishing with a purse-seine for menhaden, mackerel, etc.; ˈpurse-ˌbouncer (slang), a species of swindler; purse-club, a subscription club or guild; purse-crab, a crab of the genus Birgus living in burrows on the East Indian islands; purse crew, the crew of a purse-boat (U.S.); † purse-cross, a pecuniary loss or reverse; purse davit, a short strong davit attached to the gunwale and thwart of a purse-boat, to support the pursing blocks of a purse-seine; purse-famine, a scarcity of money; purse gang = purse crew; purse-gill, a marsipobranchiate fish; hence purse-gilled a. (Cent. Dict. 1890); purse-girdle, a girdle containing a receptacle for money, etc.; purse-holder, one who has charge or control of the funds of a society, party, nation, etc.; † ˈpurse-ˈhood, a hood drawn together at the neck like the mouth of a purse; † purse-leech, a person greedy for money; purse-line = purse-rope; † purse-mulgent a., draining or ‘milking’ the purse; purse-penance, a fine; purse-penny, Sc., a penny retained in the purse for luck; also fig.; purse-rope, the cord used to close up the mouth of a purse-seine; purse silk, silk thread used for knitting purses, and embroidering; purse spider = purse-web spider; purse-sucker = purse-leech; purse-tassel, (a) a purse-string; (b) the Tassel-hyacinth, Muscari comosum; purse-trick, a species of swindling trick; purse twist = purse silk; purse-weight, the weight or sinker of a purse-seine; purse-wire, † (a) ? wire used in making purses; (b) the wire which passes through a purse in an organ (see 7 a).
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 404/3 Roan leather ‘Modern’ *Purse Bag, with inside pocket for gold. 1914G. B. Shaw Fanny's First Play iii. 198 Putting down..her purse-bag.
1901Kipling Kim x. 263 A worn old *purse-belt embroidered with porcupine quill-patterns. 1943R.A.F. Jrnl. Aug. 25 N.A.A.F.I. are producing those useful purse belts which you may wear under your jacket.
1852Seidel Organ 50 That part of the bottom of the great sound-board, upon which these bags or purses are glued, is called the *purse-board.
1879U.S. Comm. Fish & Fisheries V. 126 Besides these there are the ‘purse’ and ‘mate’ boats from which the seine is worked... The captain of the gang is in charge of the ‘*purse-boat’. 1911Oysterman & Fisherman Sept. 25/2 Conant Brothers Company, Incorporated make a specialty of the construction of Purse boats, used so widely in purse net fishing along the coast. 1950Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch (Mag. Sect.) 23 July 5/1 Next ‘over the side’ go powered purse boats, bearing the captain, seine-setters, other crewmen and a purse net.
1902Daily Chron. 11 Apr. 9/1 Described as ‘the king of *purse-bouncers’—people who practised the ‘purse-trick’.
1790J. Woodforde Diary 25 May (1927) III. 192 The *Purse-Club..came to my House this Morning with Cockades in their Hats. 1805W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. III. 176 The guilds, or purse-clubs, of the different companies of tradesmen are not modern inventions, but of Syriac origin.
1713Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ i, Cancer Crumenatus... *Purse-Crab.
1589Wotton Lett. (1907) I. 233 Notwithstanding these *purse-crosses I find myself..able to carry the state of a gentleman with sufficiency.
1676Wycherley Plain Dealer iii. i, Well, a plague and *purse-famine light on the law!
1559Knaresborough Wills (Surtees) I. 83 My *purse gyrdell.
1864Carlyle Fredk. Gt. IV. 88 The two sea-powers as *purse⁓holders.
1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1623) C ij, For the safeguard of your face..prouide a *purs-hood made of course boultering, to be drawn and knit about your collar.
1598Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 1085 Proud *Purse-Leaches, Harpies of Westminster. 1648Brit. Bellman in Harl. Misc. VII. 625 So long as you harpyes, you sucking purse⁓leeches, and your implements be our masters.
1628Venner Baths of Bathe 364 In like manner this *purse mulgent physician not long since dealt with a gentlewoman.
1610Bp. Hall Apol. Brownists xliii. Wks. (1629) 590 You send me to Sheet-penances and *Purse-penances.
1708M. Bruce Good News 38 If I had these three *purse-pennies, I wad think nothing to go thorow all the world with them.
1880L. Higgin Handbk. Embroidery i. 6 (heading) *Purse silk is sometimes used for diapering, and..where a raised effect is required.
1671Maynwaring Pract. Phys. 62 Such that make a prey of Patients, and are *Purse-suckers.
1629Parkinson Paradisus 116 The whole stalke with the flowers vpon it, doth somewhat resemble a long *Purse tassel, and thereupon diuers Gentlewomen haue so named it. 1866Treas. Bot., Purse-tassels, Muscari comosum.
1907Daily Chron. 14 Oct. 6/7 The boundless impertinence of the *purse-trick man.
1545Rates of Customs C ij b, *Pursewyer the dossen pounde vs. 1852Seidel Organ 50 The wire going through the purse is called the purse-wire.
▪ II. purse, v.|pɜːs|
[f. purse n.: cf. to pocket.]
1. trans. To put into one's purse; to pocket. Also with up. Now rare.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6148 For shal y neuer, aftyr þys day, Purs pens, ȝyf þat y may. c1400Plowmans T. 178 Many be marchauntes of woll And to purs pennies wol come thrall. 1577J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 120 It is not lawfull to play for money, to wynne it, and purse it vp. 1634Milton Comus 642, I purs't it up, but little reck'ning made, Till now that this extremity compell'd. 1659Noell in Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 416, I never purse one penny of it. 1724Ramsay Vision xxiii, Sum thanes thair tennants pykt and squeist, And purst up all thair rent. 1810Crabbe Borough xix. 177 I've not allow'd me time To purse the pieces.
†2. fig. In various senses: To pocket (an affront); to withdraw or keep back (a boast); to take possession of, shut up, confine. Obs.
c1400Ywaine & Gaw. 1277 His prowd wordes er now al purst, For, in fayth, ful ill he durst Anes luke opon that knyght, That he made bost with to fyght. 1570G. Buchanan Detect. Q. Mary (1572) K iij, He [Darnley] was constrainit in silence to purse vp his passit iniuries. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. ii. 192 When she first met Marke Anthony, she purst vp his heart vpon the Riuer of Sidnis. 1617Hieron Wks. II. 314 A man is vtterly disgraced, if either he purse vp a disgrace, or else decline the fight when he is challenged. 1691Dryden King Arthur iii. ii, I am spell-caught by Philidel, And pursed within a net.
†3. pass. To be (well or ill) provided with money. Obs. (Cf. pursed ppl. a. 2.)
c1550Bale K. Iohan (Camden) 71 With Iudas we love wele to be purste. 1614J. Cooke Greene's Tu quoque D 4 b, Purse. The butcher and the baker then shall stay. Spend. They must till I am some what stronger purst. a1652Brome City Wit ii. iii, How is she purs'd, Jack? is she strong that way?
4. a. trans. To contract, to draw together (the lips, brow, etc.) in wrinkles or puckers, suggesting the tightly drawn-in mouth of a purse. Often with up, out.
1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iii. 113 Thou..didd'st contract, and purse thy brow together. 1668Culpeper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. v. 9 If you cut a Muscle..it purses it self round and draws it self into it self like a ball. 1746J. Parsons Hum. Physiog. i. in Phil. Trans. XLIV. 14 Their Action is only to purse up the Mouth, as in whistling and blowing. 1839–47Todd Cycl. Anat. III. 117/1, I have thus seen the superior aperture of the glottis..pursed up and closed. 1882M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal I. viii, Lady Cumberbridge..pursed her lips and elevated her eyebrows. 1896O. Schreiner Story Afr. Farm i. xii. 114 Pursing out his lips, and waving his hand, he solemnly addressed the boy.
b. fig. To collect, concentrate.
1809Malkin Gil Blas iii. i. ⁋6, I looked hard at my master.. and pursed up all my penetration to remark upon the effect of my intelligence.
c. intr. and absol. To become wrinkled, to pucker.
1709Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1720) III. 285 Her Brows purs'd, she wrinkled her Forehead. 1748Richardson Clarissa V. viii. (1811) 106 The maiden fanned away, and primmed, and pursed. 1814Southey Roderick vi. 183 His eyelids stiffened and pursed up.
5. trans. To close up like a purse. rare.
1823Lamb Elia Ser. i. xxiii. Decay Beggars, Was this a story to purse up people's hearts, and pennies, against giving an alms to the blind?
†6. intr. To steal purses, to rob. Obs.
1592Lyly Galathea i. iv. 229 The trade of pursing neare shal faile Until the hangman cryes strike saile. a1616Beaumont & Fletcher Scornf. Lady i. i, I'll purse; if that raise me not, I'll bet at bowling-alleys.
7. U.S. trans. To draw a purse-seine into the shape of a bag so as to close it. Chiefly in vbl. n. and pres. pple. Hence, ˈpursing vbl. n. (also attrib.) and ppl. a., as pursing-block, -gear, -line, -weight, the block, etc., used in working a purse-seine.
c1449Pecock Repr. v. xiv. 555 The forbering of the bare touche ther of [money] and the forbering of the pursing or bodili bering ther of. a1624Bp. M. Smith Serm. (1632) 270 Abigail..describeth the same safety by a metaphor of safe binding or safe pursing.
1883Pall Mall G. 2 June, Supp., Her rowlocks, pursing-gear &c. are nickel-plated. 188.Bulletin U.S. Nat. Museum (Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl.), The pursing weight varies from 100 to 150 pounds. 1890Cent. Dict. s.v. Purse⁓line, the line by means of which a purse-seine is pursed. |