The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Purse \Purse\, n. [OE. purs, pors, OF. burse, borse, bourse, F.
   bourse, LL. bursa, fr. Gr. ? hide, skin, leather. Cf.
   Bourse, Bursch, Bursar, Buskin.]
   1. A small bag or pouch, the opening of which is made to draw
      together closely, used to carry money in; by extension,
      any receptacle for money carried on the person; a wallet;
      a pocketbook; a portemonnaie. --Chaucer.
      [1913 Webster]

            Who steals my purse steals trash.     --Shak.
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   2. Hence, a treasury; finances; as, the public purse.
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   3. A sum of money offered as a prize, or collected as a
      present; as, to win the purse; to make up a purse.
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   4. A specific sum of money; as:
      (a) In Turkey, the sum of 500 piasters.
      (b) In Persia, the sum of 50 tomans.
          [1913 Webster]

   Light purse, or Empty purse, poverty or want of
      resources.

   Long purse, or Heavy purse, wealth; riches.

   Purse crab (Zool.), any land crab of the genus Birgus,
      allied to the hermit crabs. They sometimes weigh twenty
      pounds or more, and are very strong, being able to crack
      cocoanuts with the large claw. They chiefly inhabit the
      tropical islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, living
      in holes and feeding upon fruit. Called also palm crab.


   Purse net, a fishing net, the mouth of which may be closed
      or drawn together like a purse. --Mortimer.

   Purse pride, pride of money; insolence proceeding from the
      possession of wealth. --Bp. Hall.

   Purse rat. (Zool.) See Pocket gopher, under Pocket.

   Sword and purse, the military power and financial resources
      of a nation.
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Purse \Purse\, v. i.
   To steal purses; to rob. [Obs. & R.]
   [1913 Webster]

         I'll purse: . . . I'll bet at bowling alleys. --Beau. &
                                                  Fl.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Purse \Purse\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pursed; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Pursing.]
   1. To put into a purse.
      [1913 Webster]

            I will go and purse the ducats straight. --Shak.
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   2. To draw up or contract into folds or wrinkles, like the
      mouth of a purse; to pucker; to knit.
      [1913 Webster]

            Thou . . . didst contract and purse thy brow.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

purse
    n 1: a container used for carrying money and small personal
         items or accessories (especially by women); "she reached
         into her bag and found a comb" [syn: bag, handbag,
         pocketbook, purse]
    2: a sum of money spoken of as the contents of a money purse;
       "he made the contribution out of his own purse"; "he and his
       wife shared a common purse"
    3: a small bag for carrying money
    4: a sum of money offered as a prize; "the purse barely covered
       the winner's expenses"
    v 1: contract one's lips into a rounded shape
    2: gather or contract into wrinkles or folds; pucker; "purse
       ones's lips" [syn: purse, wrinkle]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

111 Moby Thesaurus words for "purse":
   Swiss bank account, abbreviate, and pence, assets, award, bag,
   balance, bank account, billfold, bottom dollar, bucks, budget,
   capital, cash, cash reserves, checking account, circumscribe,
   coarct, cocker, cockle, command of money, compact, compress,
   concentrate, condense, consolidate, constrict, constringe,
   contract, corrugate, cramp, crease, crimp, crimple, crinkle,
   crumple, curtail, decrease, dollars, dough, draw, draw in,
   draw together, exchequer, filthy lucre, finances, fund, funds,
   furrow, gift, handbag, income, kitty, knit, knot, life savings,
   lolly, loot, means, money, money belt, money clip, moneys, narrow,
   nest egg, pecuniary resources, pelf, pocket, pocketbook, poke,
   pool, porte-monnaie, pouch, pounds, present, prize, pucker,
   pucker up, purse strings, ready, reduce, reserves, resources,
   revenue, reward, riches, ridge, rimple, ripple, ruck, ruckle,
   rumple, savings, savings account, scratch, shekels, shillings,
   shirr, shorten, solidify, strangle, strangulate, substance,
   treasure, treasury, unregistered bank account, wallet, wealth,
   wherewithal, wimple, wrinkle



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Purse
   (1.) Gr. balantion, a bag (Luke 10:4; 22:35, 36).

     (2.) Gr. zone, properly a girdle (Matt. 10:9; Mark 6:8), a
   money-belt. As to our Lord's sending forth his disciples without
   money in their purses, the remark has been made that in this
   "there was no departure from the simple manners of the country.
   At this day the farmer sets out on excursions quite as extensive
   without a para in his purse; and a modern Moslem prophet of
   Tarshisha thus sends forth his apostles over this identical
   region. No traveller in the East would hestitate to throw
   himself on the hospitality of any village." Thomson's Land and
   the Book. (See SCRIP.)


Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

PURSE. In Turkey the sum of five hundred dollars is called a purse. Merch.
Dict. h.t.