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View synonyms for purse

purse

[ purs ]

noun

  1. Also called change purse [cheynj, purs]. a small bag, pouch, or case for carrying money.
  2. anything resembling a purse in appearance, use, etc.
  3. a sum of money offered as a prize or reward.
  4. a sum of money collected as a present or the like.
  5. money, resources, or wealth.


verb (used with object)

, pursed, purs·ing.
  1. to contract into folds or wrinkles; pucker:

    to purse one's lips.

  2. to put into a purse.

purse

/ pɜːs /

noun

  1. a small bag or pouch, often made of soft leather, for carrying money, esp coins
  2. a woman's handbag
  3. anything resembling a small bag or pouch in form or function
  4. wealth; funds
  5. a sum of money that is offered, esp as a prize


verb

  1. tr to contract (the mouth, lips, etc) into a small rounded shape

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Other Words From

  • purse·less adjective
  • purse·like adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of purse1

First recorded before 1100; (noun) Middle English, Old English purs, blend of pusa “bag” (cognate with Old Norse posi ) and Medieval Latin bursa “bag” (ultimately from Greek býrsa “hide, leather”); (verb) Middle English pursen “to put in a purse,” derivative of the noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of purse1

Old English purs, probably from Late Latin bursa bag, ultimately from Greek: leather

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Idioms and Phrases

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

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Example Sentences

On one summer lunch hour, Donna Ann Levonuk, 50, lifted a tub of diaper cream priced at $43.98—and then stashed it in her purse.

The padlocked door down the hall was now open, and I found my purse.

She retrieved a cigarette from her purse and lit it without moving her face away from the screen.

Available at La Boîte SHOLDIT Clutch Wrap Purse, $70 We can all agree the dorky passport holders and money bags have got to go.

These are longer than traditional ads, mini-stories, designed to pull at heart- as well as purse strings.

Absently his hands wandered through the pockets, and found his purse and the money in an outside pocket.

I turned round, thrust my purse into the lap of the nearest, and with a light heart led the lady back to the hotel.

Ernest called out; "you have forgotten your money;" and he held out a purse, but the man was gone.

A Cremona Violin is, to a rich amateur, a loadstone that is sure to attract the shining metal from the depths of his purse.

She did not smile as she opened a black purse and produced an envelope which she handed to Delancy.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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purreepurse crab