pursiness

Noun

pursiness (uncountable)

1. Shortness of breath, especially due to fatness.
   • pursiness, Asthma, ǎtis. f.1649, Charles Hoole, An Easie Entrance to the Latine Tongue, London: Joshuah Kirton, II. A Vocabulary of the most common words English and Latine, 21. Of Diseases, page 218
   • […] any slight degree of pursiness that the good steeds may have acquired by standing at livery in Cripplegate, or elsewhere, is speedily pumped out of them by a smart brush over the turf […]1838, Robert Smith Surtees, Jorrocks’s Jaunts and Jollities, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 2nd edition, 1843, No. I, “The Swell and the Surrey,” p. 6
2. Fatness, obesity.
   • You pray me to aduise, and tell you what
     Will take away your pursiness and fat,1595, Thomas Lodge, A Fig for Momus, Epistle VI, cited in J. W. Lever, The Elizabethan Love Sonnet, London: Methuen, 1966, p. 150
   • PURSINESS, […] obesity.1872, C. H. Cleaveland, Pronouncing Medical Lexicon, 14th edition, Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, page 202
3. The state of being puckered.
   • When he smiled, the slight pursiness of his mouth disappeared, and a markedly irregular front tooth gave him a boyish air.1969, Susan Morrow, chapter 13, in A Season of Evil, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 120
   • […] as his lips pressed down upon hers, coaxing them to abandon their pursiness and relax, she gave a little moan of surprise.2000, Miranda Jarrett, chapter 4, in Starlight, New York: Sonnet Books, page 57