3. A sum of money offered as a prize, or collected as a present; as, to
win the purse; to make up a purse.
4. A specific sum of money; as: (a) In Turkey, the sum of 500 piasters.
(b) In Persia, the sum of 50 tomans.
Light purse, or Empty purse, poverty or want of resources. -- Long
purse, or Heavy purse, wealth; riches. -- Purse crab (Zoˆl.), 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. (Zoˆl.) See Pocket
gopher, under Pocket. -- Sword and purse, the military power and
financial resources of a nation.
Purse, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pursed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pursing.] 1. To
put into a purse.