1891. Sporting Life, 3 Ap. He will send a deposit as a guarantee to keep his appointment if any club or gentleman will give a purse for him to face the victorious one in the match referred to.
Verb. (old).—To take purses; to steal.
1609. Beaumont and Fletcher, Scornful Lady, i. 1. Why I'll purse: if that raise me not I'll bet at Bowling Alleys.
One or two colloquialisms merit notice: thus, a light (or empty) purse = poverty; a long (or heavy) purse = wealth; sword and purse = the military power and wealth of a nation; to make a purse = to amass money; purse-proud (or full) = haughty, because rich (B. E., 1696); out of purse = penniless: purse-pinched = poor; 'I've left my purse in my other hose (old), or on the piano' = a bald excuse for not parting (q.v.). Amongst proverbs there are:—'A full purse makes the mouth to speak'; 'An empty purse fills the face with wrinkles'; 'Ask thy purse what thou should'st buy'; 'An empty purse and a new house make a man wise, but too late'; 'An empty purse frights away friends'; 'A friend at Court is better than a penny in the purse.'
1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, iv. 3. Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor; For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich.
1615. Fisheries [Arber, Garner, iii. 635]. [He was] out of purse.
d.1626. Davies, Microcosmus [Grosart, Works (1876), 14]. Ladies and lords, purse-pinched and soule-pained.
1634. Withal, Dict., Zonam perdidit: he hath left his purse in his other hose.
1814. Edgeworth, Patronage, xix. Dr. Percy's next difficulty was how to supply the purse-full and purse-proud citizen with motive and occupation.
Purse-leech, subs. phr. (old).—A
money-grubber.
1648. British Belman [Harl. Misc. (Park), vii. 625]. Golden days of peace and plenty, as we must never see again, So long as you harpyes, you sucking purse-leeches, and your implements be our masters.
Purse-milking, adj. phr. (old).—Spendthrift;
greedy.
1621. Burton, Anat. Melan. [1638], Democ. to Reader, 49. A purse-milking nation, a clamorous company, gowned vultures [of lawyers].
Pursenets, subs. (old).—See quot.
c.1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Pursenets, Goods taken upon Trust by young Unthrifts at treble the Value; also a little Purse.
Purser, subs. (nautical).—A ship's
storekeeper: used contemptuously
as follows:—Purser's dip
(quart, &c.) = an undersized
candle, or quart short in measure;
purser's grin = a hypocritical
or satirical sneer: e.g., 'There
are no half laughs or purser's
grins about me, I'm right up and
down like a yard of pump water,'
meaning that the speaker is in
earnest; purser's-name = a
false name; purser's shirt on
a handspike (said of ill-fitting
clothes); purser's-grind (venery)
= 'plenty of prick and no
money': a Yiddish compliment
(q.v.).
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, xxxiii. We had languished five weeks on the allowance of a purser's quart per diem for each man.
Purser's-pump, subs. phr. (old).—(1)
A syphon; and (2) a
bassoon.—Grose (1785).
Pursy (or pursive), adj. (old:
now colloquial).—1. Rich; (2)
fat with well-being; and (3) short-winded.—B.
E. (c.1696); Grose
(1785).
