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pursy

English

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pursy¹

Where it comes from

From Middle English pursyf (“short of breath, asthmatic”), probably from Old French pousser (“to push; to breathe with difficulty”); see French poussif (“wheezy”).

adjective pursier · pursiest · pursive

  1. Out of breath; short of breath, especially due to fatness. now breathless wrong Shall sit and pant in your great chairs of ease, And pursy insolence shall break his wind With fear and horrid flight.
  2. Fat and short. Now I will give you a Picture of this Wretch: She is a broad, squat, pursy, fat Thing, quite ugly, if any thing human can be so called […]

pursy²

Where it comes from

From purse (“pucker”) + -y and purse (“small bag for carrying money”) + -y.

adjective pursier · pursiest

  1. Puckered. So Aunt Bell sat down to table—a bony frame, with an anxious green eye, a pursy mouth, and a sweating sickness of bitter words, seeking to break forth at the earliest opportunity.
  2. Purse-proud; vain about one's wealth.

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MLA

"pursy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pursy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

pursy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pursy

Chicago

"pursy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pursy.

BibTeX
@misc{pursy_2026,
  title = {pursy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pursy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}