Word.ws English Dictionary

purse

UK/pɜːs/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/pəːs/

purse noun: a small bag for carrying money.

purse: a small bag for carrying money
Image: Santeri Viinamäki, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

purse (plural purses)

  1. A small bag for carrying money.
    • And then muſt many a man occupie as farre as his purſe would reache, and ſtretche out his legges accordynge to the length of his couerlet.1550, Steuen Mierdman, The market or fayre of usurers
  2. (US) A handbag (small bag usually used by women for carrying various small personal items)
    • Master leathercrafter does handcrafted wallets, belts, purses, handbags etc., supporting self and helpers. Good enough to carve fantst art and portraits into leather.1987 August 15, Robert Benitez, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 5, page 14
    Synonyms:
    handbag
  3. A quantity of money given for a particular purpose.
    • It was a historic and a hefty battle when Myler and Percy were scheduled to don the gloves for the purse of fifty sovereigns.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[[Episode 12: The Cyclops]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    bursary, grant, funds
  4. (historical) A specific sum of money in certain countries: formerly 500 piastres in Turkey or 50 tomans in Persia.

Verb

purse (third-person singular simple present purses, present participle pursing, simple past and past participle pursed)

  1. (transitive) To press (one's lips) in and together so that they protrude.
    • The serving Sister pursed up her lips to remind him of the cloistral rule, almost as if she wanted to prevent any conversation between him and the nun.1901, Matilde Serao, The Land of Cockayne, translator not credited, London: Heinemann, Chapter IV, p. 72, https://archive.org/details/landofcockayne00seraiala
    • Anton Ivanovich pursed up his lower lip so that his grey moustache pressed against the tip of his red pitted nose, took in all the officials with his rounded eyes, and after an unavoidable pause emitted a fat unctuous laugh.1916, Leonid Andreyev, “An Original”, in W. H. Lowe, transl., The Little Angel and Other Stories, New York: Alfred Knopf, page 85
    Synonyms:
    round
  2. To draw up or contract into folds or wrinkles; to pucker; to knit.
    • […] thou […] didst contract and purse thy brow together, / As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain / Some horrible conceit: […]c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • Upon hearing Billy's version, the sage Dansker seemed to divine more than he was told; and after a little meditation during which his wrinkles were pursed as into a point, quite effacing for the time that quizzing expression his face sometimes wore, "Didn't I say so, Baby Budd?"1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter XIII.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC
  3. To put into a purse.
    • And I will go and purse the ducats straight,c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  4. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To steal purses; to rob.
    • Why I'll purse; if that raise me not, I'll bet at bowling alleys, or man whores: I would fain live by others.1647–1679, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Scornful Lady”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act I, scene i

Proper noun capitalized: Purse

Purse (plural Purses)

  1. A surname from Middle English.

purse meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

purse in Hindi

small bag for carrying money
पर्स pars, बटुआ baṭuā

purse in Tamil

பணப்பை

purse in Urdu

small bag for carrying money
پَرْس pars, بَٹْوَا baṭvā, بَٹْوَہ baṭva

purse in Bengali

small bag for carrying money
পার্স parśo
More languagesFewer languages
purse in Telugu
సంచి sañci, జాలెము jālemu, తిత్తి titti
purse in Malayalam
മടിശ്ശീല, ചെറുപണക്കിഴി, പണസഞ്ചി
purse in Kannada
ಕಯ್ಚೀಲ, ಹಣದ ಚೀಲ, ಥೈಲಿ, ಸಂಚಿ
purse in Odia
ଗାଞ୍ଜିଆ gāñjiā
purse in Nepali
थैली thailī, पर्स pars
purse in Tagalog
lukbutan
purse in Arabic
جِزْدَان jizdān, جُزْدَان juzdān, مِحْفَظَة miḥfaẓa, جَرَبَنْدِيَّة jarabandiyya
purse in Malay
dompet
purse in Indonesian
dompet
purse in Thai
กระเป๋า grà-bpǎo
purse in Vietnamese
ví tiền, ví, bóp
purse in Myanmar
ပိုက်ဆံအိတ် puikhcam-it
Sindhi
پرس purs, بٽوئو batuo, پئسن جي ٿيلهي paisan ji thelhi, رقم raqam

Examples of purse in a sentence

  • She clutched her purse tightly and walked nervously into the building.
  • The money made a chinky sound as I shook the purse.
  • She carried a vest-pocket copy of the New Testament in her purse at all times.

All 40 example sentences with purse

Synonyms of purse

All synonyms of purse

Forms of purse

Noun
pluralpurses
Verb
third-person singular presentpurses
present participlepursing
past participlepursed
pastpursed
Proper noun
pluralPurses

Plural of purse: purses

Origin of purse

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 (“bag”), Old High German burissa (“wallet”).

A metonymic occupational surname for someone who made bags or purses, from Middle English purse.

Words formed from purse

Phrases with purse

13 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with purse

36 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about purse

What does purse mean?
Purse means a small bag for carrying money.
What is purse in Hindi?
Purse in Hindi is पर्स (pars), बटुआ (baṭuā). See Purse meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is purse?
Purse can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce purse?
Purse is pronounced /pɜːs/ (UK).
What is the plural of purse?
The plural of purse is purses.

Words near purse in the dictionary

  1. purrsuasive
  2. purry
  3. purry forn
  4. purs
  5. Pursat
  6. purse
  7. purse crab
  8. purse crabs
  9. purse net
  10. purse nets
  11. purse puppies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: purse (page history and authors); Purse (page history and authors); purse (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); జాలెము (Telugu) (page history and authors); purse (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); purse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-purse.ogg.

Cite this entry: “purse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/purse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.