pursy
- 1Out of breath or short-winded, especially as a result of being overweight.
The pursy security guard wheezed up the last flight of stairs, well behind the thief.
Too pursy for the steep trail, he waited in the car while the others hiked to the lake.
Similarbreathless, wheezy, winded
Note
The breathless sense has nothing to do with a purse: it goes back to Middle English pursyf, "short of breath, asthmatic", probably from an Old French verb for pushing and for breathing with difficulty. Writers from Shakespeare to George Meredith use it of people who puff under exertion, and Hannah More's farmer, "pretty fat and pursy", sits out the chase.
- 2Short and fat in build.
The mayor was a pursy figure in a tight vest who barely reached the microphone.
Behind the counter stood a pursy little clerk, round as a barrel, peering at us over his glasses.
Similardumpy, squat, tubby, portly, stout
Oppositelanky
Note
This is the same word as the breathless meaning, moved from how a stout person breathes to how they look. It keeps company with other words of shape, as in Samuel Richardson's "broad, squat, pursy, fat Thing" in Pamela (1741), and it pairs readily with little: R. M. Ballantyne's doctor is "a pursy little man with a terrific frown". Neither writer means it kindly.
- 3Gathered or drawn up into small wrinkles or folds.
She squinted into the wind, her eyes pursy against the blowing sand.
The baby's pursy little lips kept working at the bottle long after it was empty.
Note
Here the root is purse in the sense of pucker, the way lips are pursed, so this meaning shares only its spelling with the breathless one. It settles on the face: a pursy mouth in W. G. Wills (1861), lips described the same way in Jack Kerouac's San Francisco Blues, and, stretched further, Cynthia Ozick's "pursy violated eyes".
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of pursy apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origins
From Middle English pursyf ("short of breath, asthmatic"), probably from Old French pousser ("to push; to breathe with difficulty"); compare French poussif ("wheezy").
From purse ("pucker") + -y, and from purse ("small bag for carrying money") + -y.