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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

pursiness en · NOUN

Etymology

From pursy + -ness.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) The state of being pursy. ▸ Shortness of breath, especially due to fatness.
    • 1838, Robert Smith Surtees, Jorrocks’s Jaunts and Jollities, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 2nd edition, 1843, No. I, “The Swell and the Surrey,” p. 6, […] any slight degree of pursiness that the good steeds may have acquired by standing at livery in Cripplegate, or elsewhere, is speedily pumped out of them by a smart brush over the turf […]
    • pursiness, Asthma, ǎtis. f. 1649, Charles Hoole, An Easie Entrance to the Latine Tongue, London: Joshuah Kirton, II. A Vocabulary of the most common words English and Latine, 21. Of Diseases, page 218:
  2. (uncountable) The state of being pursy. ▸ Fatness, obesity.
    • 1595, Thomas Lodge, A Fig for Momus, Epistle VI, cited in J. W. Lever, The Elizabethan Love Sonnet, London: Methuen, 1966, p. 150, You pray me to aduise, and tell you what Will take away your pursiness and fat,
    • 1906, Florence Parsons (as “Mrs. Clement Parsons”), Garrick and His Circle, London: Methuen, p. 131, Hogarth’s fine portrait of him, […] recently acquired by the National Gallery, suggests the double chin and general pursiness of the bon vivant.
    • PURSINESS, […] obesity. 1872, C. H. Cleaveland, Pronouncing Medical Lexicon, 14th edition, Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, page 202:
  3. (uncountable) The state of being pursy. ▸ The state of being puckered.
    • […] as his lips pressed down upon hers, coaxing them to abandon their pursiness and relax, she gave a little moan of surprise. 2000, Miranda Jarrett, chapter 4, in Starlight, New York: Sonnet Books, page 57:
    • When he smiled, the slight pursiness of his mouth disappeared, and a markedly irregular front tooth gave him a boyish air. 1969, Susan Morrow, chapter 13, in A Season of Evil, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 120: