| 释义 |
purser|ˈpɜːsə(r)|
Also 5 pursser, porser, pursor, 6 -our, 5–6 pursar, 5–7 purcer.
[f. purse n. + -er1; cf. miller, banker, and F. boursier, med.L. bursārius bursar.]
†1. A maker of purses. Obs.
1475in Coventry Leet Bk. 479 Joh. Smyth..Taillour; Joh. Denton..laborer..; Will. Banburgh..purser. c1481Caxton Dialogues 41/4 Lyon the pursser [F. bourssier] Hath pursses and pauteners. c1515Cocke Lorells B. 10 Sylke women, pursers, and garnysshers. 1638R. Brathwait Barnabees Jrnl. iii. (1818) 107 Where be thy masters? fellows? scholers? bursers? O Stamford! to thy shame, they'r all turn'd pursers. [Referring to its defunct university.]
†2.
a. An officer charged with managing money matters and keeping accounts; a purse-bearer, treasurer. Obs. in general sense.
c1440York Myst. xxvi. 136 [Judas loq.] Of his penys purser was I. 1483Cath. Angl. 294/2 A Purser, bursarius. 1530Palsgr. 259/2 Purser, boursier. 1677Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 444 Rich men are but God's pursers; they do but ‘carry the bag’, and what is put therein, for public uses. 1816Muir Clydesd. Minstrelsy 2 To rouse the clerk and purser wi' their sang.
b. The officer on board a ship who keeps the accounts, and usually has charge of the provisions. Also in the possessive in various combs. and phrases, as purser's crab (slang), a naval uniform boot; † purser's dip (see quot. 1867) obs.; purser's name, a false name under which, formerly, a man was entered on the books of a ship in the Royal Navy; a purser's shirt on a handspike, used as a type of the ill-fitting.
In the Royal Navy the purser was originally the commissariat officer of the ship, but not the paymaster of the crew (who were paid at the end of the voyage or commission). In 1825, by Act 6 Geo. IV, c. 18, a portion of the wages of the crew was permitted to be paid to them monthly, and the duty of making these payments was assigned to the purser, who in 1842 was officially designated ‘Paymaster and Purser’. In 1852 the title was changed to ‘Paymaster’, and the officer's duties in regard to money transactions on board ship were largely extended. In modern passenger-ships, the purser is the head of the stewards' department, and has general superintendence of the passengers and their comfort and requirements, checks their tickets, issues those taken on board, etc.
1458Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 300 All maysterys, owenerys, purserys of al maner schyppys. 1486Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 21 Also paid William Peny then Pursor of the same ship for the vittell of the said..marriners for a weke. 1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 14 The owners maisters and pursers of Englyshe shyppes. 1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. viii. 34 A man of Warre hath onely a Purser. 1662Pepys Diary 29 Aug., I..did begin to-night..to look into the nature of a purser's account, and the business of victualling. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Purser, an Officer in a King's Ship, who receives her Victuals from the Victualler, and is to take care that it be in good Condition, and well laid up and stowed: His Office is also to keep a List of the Men and Boys belonging to the Ship, and to set down exactly the Days of each Man's admittance into Pay. 1748Anson Voy. ii. ii. (ed. 4) 191 Our former Purser had neglected to take on board large quantities of several kinds of provisions. 1810J. Moore Post-Captain v. 23 There is nothing of him left but ribs and trucks. His coat fits him like a purser's shirt upon a handspike. 1821P. Egan Life in London ii. v. 308 The greatest anxiety with most individuals..is to appear what they are not; to copy some stylish hero for their model, but whose dress at most they merely imitate, and which generally fits them after the manner of a ‘purser's shirt upon a handspike’! 1828Night Watch II. 82 Tom, when he was impressed into his Majesty's service, had taken the ‘purser's name’ literally ‘un nom de guerre’ of Thomas Call, in which his warrant as boatswain was subsequently made out... Mr. Call's name, however, was in reality Thomas Whistle. 1829Marryat Naval Officer I. viii. 231, I was down in one of the wings, reading by the light of a purser's dip—vulgo, a farthing candle. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xxxviii, An old friend of his, a purser in the navy, who lived at Southsea. 1847H. Melville Omoo 232 Some, to be sure, had for the sake of formality, shipped under a feigned cognomen, or ‘Purser's name’. 1852Apr. 5 Order in Council, Paymasters and Pursers to be designated Paymasters of the Navy. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Purser, a kind of cabin steward or providore in a passenger ship. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 550 Purser's dip, the smallest dip-candle. 1878Detroit Free Press 12 Jan. (Suppl.) 2/5 It fits him like a purser's shirt on a handspike. 1913T. T. Jeans John Graham Sub-Lieutenant R.N. 18 ‘Now for the purser's ‘crabs’!’ the Model gurgled, when I'd..produced a pair of service pattern boots. 1924G. H. A. Willis Royal Navy as I saw It 83 Modern ships with wire hawsers instead of ropes, and iron decks and ladders, conduce to the wearing of shoes or ‘purser's crabs’. 1927P. Riley Memories 89 Each mess being allowed a few small candles, known as ‘Purser's dips’, to last the week. 1970P. O'Brian Master & Commander x. 264 ‘Mr. Dillon, who have we aboard that speaks Italian? John Baptist is an Italian.’ ‘And Abram Codpiece, sir—a purser's name.’
c. In Cornwall, The treasurer or cashier of a mine, esp. one worked on the cost-book principle.
1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. xx. (ed. 3) 202 The Purser and Book-keeper manage the accounts. 1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xv. 566 In the generality of mines the purser is the chief officer. 1846Addison Law Contracts i. i. §1 (1883) 103 In mining companies carried on on the cost-book principle..the shareholders..are not liable upon bills..drawn..by the purser..of the company.
†d. purser-general, the head of a body of pursers, in a district, or department of service.
1633G. Gosnell Let. 4 July (Ind. Off. Rec. O.C. 1509), Mr. Turnour, Purser-Generall att Suratt, comends his love to you. 1657T. Maynard in Thurloe St. Papers VI. 118 If somebody were joined with the purser-general by an order from his highness,..there would be much money saved.
†3. One who steals or cuts purses; a cutpurse, a pickpocket. Obs.
1649W. M. Wand. Jew (1857) 64 §3 All Executors that rob Orphans of their portions, are Theeves, and deserve more to be hanged then a Purser.
4. a. A ship using purse-nets. b. A fish caught in a purse-net.
1961Listener 24 Aug. 269/1 The use of these pursers was forbidden in the cod waters of Lofoten. 1971[see purse-net 1]. 1973Stornoway Gaz. 27 Jan. 1/1 The quality of the ring-net herring was mixed to very poor and soft, and the pursers very poor and soft.
Hence ˈpursership, the office of purser.
1600Dekker Fortunatus E 3 b, Ile haue the purse for a-yeere, you the Hat..& when my pursourship ends, ile resigne, and cap you. 1864in Webster (citing Totten); and in mod. Dicts. |