purse 1 S3 / pɜs $ pɜrs / 名词

1 [可数名词]

a) especially British English a small bag in which women keep paper money, coins, cards etc 同义词 wallet American English :

Julie opened her handbag and took out her purse.

b) ( also change purse , coin purse American English ) a small bag used to hold coins, used especially by women

2 [可数名词] American English a bag in which a woman carries her money and personal things 同义词 handbag British English :

I locked the door and dropped the keys in my purse.

3 [单数形式] formal the amount of money that a person, organization, or country has available to spend :

Election expenses are met from the public purse (= money controlled by the government ) .

A visit to the new county museum will set the family purse back by around £12.

4 [可数名词] the amount of money given to someone who wins a sports event, such as a boxing match or a car race :

They will compete for a $100,000 purse.

5 the purse strings used to refer to the control of spending in a family, company, country etc

hold/control the purse strings

It all comes down to who holds the purse strings.

She keeps tight control over the purse strings.