ˈpurse-ˌbearer
1. The bearer or carrier of a purse; one who has charge of the money of another or of a company; a treasurer, bursar.
| c 1305 Judas Iscariot 114 in E.E.P. (1862) 110 Siþþe oure louerd him makede apostle: to fondi his mod And siþþe pursberer of his pans: to spene al his god. c 1475 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 804/39 Hic naucherus, a pursberer. 1598 Ord. for Prayer in Liturg. Serv. Q. Eliz. (1847) 681 D. Bagshaw, the Pope's Judas or purse-bearer. 1630 Wadsworth Pilgr. vi. 58 The money which wee deliuered vnto him being our purse-bearer. 1840 Thackeray Pict. Rhapsody Wks. 1900 XIII. 320 There is Mr. James Fraser, our employer, master, publisher, purse-bearer, and friend. |
2. spec. The official who carries the Great Seal in front of the Lord Chancellor in a receptacle called ‘purse’ or ‘burse’.
| 1688 Luttrell Brief Rel. I. (1857) 429 The lord chancellor hath turn'd out Mr. Harris, his pursebearer. 1705 Hearne Collect. 28 Oct. (O.H.S.) I. 60 Mr. Wullaston made Purse-Bearer to the..Ld. Keeper. 1901 Empire Rev. I. 467 The Lord Chancellor..is preceded on his entry to the House by the Sergeant-at-Arms, bearing the Mace, the Purse-bearer carrying the Purse, which is supposed to contain the Great Seal, and his train is borne by a Trainbearer. |
3. A pouched animal, a marsupial.
| 1851 Broderip Note Bk. Naturalist (1852) 161 The marsupiates, or purse-bearers. |
So ˈpurse-ˌbearing a., pouched, marsupiate.