Definitions

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

  • noun A purse.
  • noun Ecclesiastical A flat cloth case for carrying the corporal that is used in celebrating the Eucharist.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A bag; a pouch; a purse.
  • noun Anything resembling a purse; a vesicle; a pod.
  • noun A bourse; an exchange: as, “merchants' burses,”
  • noun A bursary. See bursary
  • noun The burse, the Royal Exchange in London, built by Sir Thomas Gresham in 1566, or the New Exchange, called Britain's Burse, and afterward Exeter 'Change, built in 1609 by the Earl of Salisbury on the site of the present Exeter Hall in the Strand. There were shops over the exchange, where female finery was sold. Hence the allusion in the quotation.

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

  • noun obsolete A purse; also, a vesicle; a pod; a hull.
  • noun Scot. A fund or foundation for the maintenance of needy scholars in their studies; also, the sum given to the beneficiaries.
  • noun (Eccl.) An ornamental case of hold the corporal when not in use.
  • noun An exchange, for merchants and bankers, in the cities of continental Europe. Same as Bourse.
  • noun obsolete A kind of bazaar.

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

  • noun obsolete A purse.
  • noun A fund or foundation for the maintenance of the needy scholars in their studies.
  • noun ecclesiastical An ornamental case to hold the corporal when not in use.
  • noun obsolete A stock exchange; a bourse.
  • noun obsolete A kind of bazaar.

Etymologies

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

[Late Latin bursa; see bursa.]

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