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Purse

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purse

  [purs] noun, verb, pursed, purs⋅ing.
Use Purse in a Sentence
–noun
1. a woman's handbag or pocketbook.
2. a small bag, pouch, or case for carrying money.
3. anything resembling a purse in appearance, use, etc.
4. a sum of money offered as a prize or reward.
5. a sum of money collected as a present or the like.
6. money, resources, or wealth.
–verb (used with object)
7. to contract into folds or wrinkles; pucker: to purse one's lips.
8. to put into a purse.
Origin:
bef. 1100; (n.) ME, OE purs, b. pusa bag (c. ON posi) and ML bursa bag (≪ Gk býrsa hide, leather); (v.) ME pursen to put in a purse, deriv. of the n.

Related forms:
purseless, adjective
purselike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Oakley ® Purses
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Eco Fashionable Handbags
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purse   (pûrs)   
n.  

  1. A woman's bag for carrying keys, a wallet, and other personal items; a handbag.

  2. A small bag or pouch for carrying money.

  3. Something that resembles a bag or pouch.

  4. Available wealth or resources; money.

  5. A sum of money collected as a present or offered as a prize.

tr.v.   pursed, purs·ing, purs·es
To gather or contract (the lips or brow) into wrinkles or folds; pucker.

[Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin bursa; see bursa.]
purse'like' adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

purse  (n.)
O.E. pursa "little bag made of leather," from M.L. bursa "purse" (cf. O.Fr. borse, 12c., Fr. bourse), from L.L., variant of byrsa "hide," from Gk. byrsa "hide, leather." Change of b- to p- perhaps by infl. of O.E. pusa, O.N. posi "bag." Meaning "woman's handbag" is attested from 1955. Meaning "sum of money collected as a prize in a race, etc.," is frim 1650. The verb, "draw together and wrinkle" (as the strings of a money bag) is first recorded 1604. Purse-strings, fig. for "control of money" is from c.1412. Purse-snatcher first attested 1902 (earlier purse-picker, 1549). The notion of "drawn together by a thong" is also behind purse-net (c.1400).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Purse

(1.) Gr. balantion, a bag (Luke 10:4; 22:35, 36). (2.) Gr. zone, properly a girdle (Matt. 10:9; Mark 6:8), a money-belt. As to our Lord's sending forth his disciples without money in their purses, the remark has been made that in this "there was no departure from the simple manners of the country. At this day the farmer sets out on excursions quite as extensive without a para in his purse; and a modern Moslem prophet of Tarshisha thus sends forth his apostles over this identical region. No traveller in the East would hestitate to throw himself on the hospitality of any village." Thomson's Land and the Book. (See SCRIP.)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms & Phrases

purse

In addition to the idiom beginning with purse, also see can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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