Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A flat pocket-sized folding case, usually made of leather, for holding paper money, cards, or photographs; a billfold.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A long bag with a slit in the middle, and space for the contents at the two ends: a form familiar in silk knitted purses, and revived for larger bags for women's use.
  • noun Anything protuberant and swagging. Compare wattle.
  • noun A flat bag of leather, with a flap, or a hinged opening with a clasp, at the top: used for tools, etc., or in a small size for carrying coin on the person.
  • noun A pocketbook, especially a large one for containing papers, bank-notes laid flat and not folded, and the like.
  • noun A small kit carried by anglers.
  • noun In heraldry, a bearing representing a scrip. See scrip

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A bag or sack for carrying about the person, as a bag for carrying the necessaries for a journey; a knapsack; a beggar's receptacle for charity; a peddler's pack.
  • noun A pocketbook for keeping money about the person.
  • noun Anything protuberant and swagging.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small case, often flat and often made of leather, for keeping money (especially paper money), credit cards, etc.
  • noun by extension, slang A person's bank account or assets.
  • noun A thick case or folder with plastic sleeves in which compact discs may be stored.
  • noun archaic A bag or pouch.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a pocket-size case for holding papers and paper money

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English walet, knapsack, possibly from Old North French *walet, roll, knapsack; see wel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English walet ("wallet, bag, knapsack"). Of uncertain origin. Possibly from an assumed Old Northern French *walet "bag, knapsack", from Proto-Germanic *wal- (“to roll”). More at walk, well, wallow.

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