purse

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A small bag for carrying money.

   She took some coins out of her purse to pay the bus fare.

2. 2
   noun

   A handbag used to carry money and small personal items.

   She searched her purse for her keys.

3. 3
   verb

   To press your lips tightly together.

   She pursed her lips and frowned at the bad news.

4. 4
   noun

   A sum of money offered as a prize.

   The winner of the race took home a large purse.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Purse entered English from Latin bursa, which meant both “money bag” and “leather” or “animal skin.” The name therefore reflects the material traditionally used to make such a container.

From Middle English purs, from Old English purs (“purse”), partly from pusa (“wallet, bag, scrip”) and partly from burse (“pouch, bag”). Old English pusa comes from Proto-West Germanic *pusō, from Proto-Germanic *pusô (“bag, sack, scrip”), and is cognate with Old High German pfoso (“pouch, purse”), Low German pūse (“purse, bag”), Old Norse posi (“purse, bag”), Danish pose (“purse, bag”). Old English burse comes from Medieval Latin bursa (“leather bag”) (compare English bursar), from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa, “hide, wine-skin”). Compare also Old French borse (French bourse), Old Saxon bursa (…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary