Purposive adjective Having or indicating purpose or design. " Purposive characters." Bastian.

Purposive modification of structure in a bone.

Owen.

It is impossible that the frog should perform actions more purposive than these.

Huxley.

Purpre noun & adjective Purple. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Purpresture noun [ Probably corrupted (see Prest ) from Old French pourprisure , from pourprendre : confer Late Latin purprestura . Confer Purprise .] (Law) Wrongful encroachment upon another's property; esp., any encroachment upon, or inclosure of, that which should be common or public, as highways, rivers, harbors, forts, etc. [ Written also pourpresture .]

Purprise noun [ Old French pourpris ,fr. pourprendre to take away entirely; pour for + prendre to take.] A close or inclosure; the compass of a manor. Bacon.

Purpura noun [ Latin , purple, purple fish: confer French purpura . See Purple .]
1. (Medicine) A disease characterized by livid spots on the skin from extravasated blood, with loss of muscular strength, pain in the limbs, and mental dejection; the purples. Dunglison.

2. (Zoology) A genus of marine gastropods, usually having a rough and thick shell. Some species yield a purple dye.

Purpurate adjective Of or pertaining to purpura.

Purpurate noun (Chemistry) A salt of purpuric acid.

Purpure noun [ Latin purpura purple. See Purple .] (Her.) Purple, -- represented in engraving by diagonal lines declining from the right top to the left base of the escutcheon (or from sinister chief to dexter base).

Purpureal adjective Of a purple color; purple.

Purpureo- A combining form signifying of a purple or purple-red color . Specif. (Chemistry) , used in designating certain brilliant purple-red compounds of cobaltic chloride and ammonia, similar to the roseocobaltic compounds. See Cobaltic .

Purpuric adjective [ Confer French purpurique .]

1. (Medicine) Of or pertaining to purpura. Dunglison.

2. (Chemistry) Pertaining to or designating, a nitrogenous acid contained in uric acid. It is not known in the pure state, but forms well-known purple-red compounds (as murexide), whence its name.

» Purpuric acid was formerly used to designate murexan. See Murexan .

Purpurin noun (Chemistry) A dyestuff resembling alizarin, found in madder root, and extracted as an orange or red crystalline substance.

Purpuriparous adjective [ Latin purpura purple + parere to produce.] (Biol.) Producing, or connected with, a purple-colored secretion; as, the purpuriparous gland of certain gastropods.

Purpurogenous adjective [ Latin purpura purple + -genous .] (Biol.) Having the power to produce a purple color; as, the purpurogenous membrane, or choroidal epithelium, of the eye. See Visual purple , under Visual .

Purr intransitive verb & t. To murmur as a cat. See Pur .

Purr noun The low murmuring sound made by a cat; pur. See Pur .

Purre noun (Zoology) The dunlin. [ Prov. Eng.]

Purree noun [ Hind. peori yellow.] (Chemistry) A yellow coloring matter. See Euxanthin .

Purrock noun See Puddock , and Parrock .

Purse noun [ Middle English purs , pors , Old French burse , borse , bourse , French bourse , Late Latin bursa, from Greek ... hide, skin, leather. Confer Bourse , Bursch , Bursar , Buskin .]
1. A small bag or pouch, the opening of which is made to draw together closely, used to carry money in; by extension, any receptacle for money carried on the person; a wallet; a pocketbook; a portemonnaie. Chaucer.

Who steals my purse steals trash.

Shak.

2. Hence, a treasury; finances; as, the public purse .

3. A sum of money offered as a prize, or collected as a present; as, to win the purse ; to make up a purse .

4. A specific sum of money ; as: (a) In Turkey, the sum of 500 piasters. (b) In Persia, the sum of 50 tomans.

Light purse , or Empty purse , poverty or want of resources. -- Long purse , or Heavy purse , wealth; riches. -- Purse crab (Zoology) , any land crab of the genus Birgus , allied to the hermit crabs. They sometimes weigh twenty pounds or more, and are very strong, being able to crack cocoanuts with the large claw. They chiefly inhabit the tropical islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, living in holes and feeding upon fruit. Called also palm crab . -- Purse net , a fishing net, the mouth of which may be closed or drawn together like a purse. Mortimer. -- Purse pride , pride of money; insolence proceeding from the possession of wealth. Bp. Hall. -- Purse rat . (Zoology) See Pocket gopher , under Pocket . -- Sword and purse , the military power and financial resources of a nation.

Purse transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pursed ; present participle & verbal noun Pursing .]
1. To put into a purse.

I will go and purse the ducats straight.

Shak.

2. To draw up or contract into folds or wrinkles, like the mouth of a purse; to pucker; to knit.

Thou . . . didst contract and purse thy brow.

Shak.

Purse intransitive verb To steal purses; to rob. [ Obsolete & R.]

I'll purse : . . . I'll bet at bowling alleys.

Beau. & Fl.

Purse-proud adjective Affected with purse pride; puffed up with the possession of riches.

Purseful noun ; plural Pursefuls All that is, or can be, contained in a purse; enough to fill a purse.

Purser noun [ See Purse , and confer Bursar .]

1. (Nautical) A commissioned officer in the navy who had charge of the provisions, clothing, and public moneys on shipboard; -- now called paymaster .

2. A clerk on steam passenger vessels whose duty it is to keep the accounts of the vessels, such as the receipt of freight, tickets, etc.

3. Colloquially, any paymaster or cashier.

Purser's name (Nautical) , a false name. [ Slang]

Pursership noun The office of purser. Totten.

Purset noun A purse or purse net. B. Jonson.

Pursiness noun State of being pursy.

Pursive adjective Pursy. [ Obsolete] Holland.

Pursiveness noun Pursiness. [ Obsolete & R.]

Purslain noun Same as Purslane .

Purslane noun [ Old French porcelaine , pourcelaine (cf. Italian porcellana ), corrupted from Latin porcilaca for portulaca .] (Botany) An annual plant ( Portulaca oleracea ), with fleshy, succulent, obovate leaves, sometimes used as a pot herb and for salads, garnishing, and pickling.

Flowering purslane , or Great flowered purslane , the Portulaca grandiflora . See Portulaca . -- Purslane tree , a South African shrub ( Portulacaria Afra ) with many small opposite fleshy obovate leaves. -- Sea purslane , a seashore plant ( Arenaria peploides ) with crowded opposite fleshy leaves. -- Water purslane , an aquatic plant ( Ludwiqia palustris ) but slightly resembling purslane.

Pursuable adjective Capable of being, or fit to be, pursued, followed, or prosecuted. Sherwood.

Pursual noun The act of pursuit. [ R.]

Pursuance noun [ See Pursuant .]
1. The act of pursuing or prosecuting; a following out or after.

Sermons are not like curious inquiries after new nothings, but pursuances of old truths.

Jer. Taylor.

2. The state of being pursuant; consequence.

In pursuance of , in accordance with; in prosecution or fulfillment of.

Pursuant adjective [ From Pursue : confer Middle English poursuiant . Confer Pursuivant .] Acting in consequence or in prosecution (of anything); hence, agreeable; conformable; following; according; -- with to or of .

The conclusion which I draw from these premises, pursuant to the query laid down, is, etc.

Waterland.

Pursuant, Pursuantly adverb Agreeably; conformably.

Pursue transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pursued ; present participle & verbal noun Pursuing .] [ Middle English pursuen , porsuen , Old French porsivre , poursuivre , poursuir , French poursuivre , from Latin prosequi ; pro forward + sequi to follow. See Sue , and confer Prosecute , Pursuivant .]
1. To follow with a view to overtake; to follow eagerly, or with haste; to chase; as, to pursue a hare.

We happiness pursue ; we fly from pain.

Prior.

The happiness of men lies in purswing ,
Not in possessing.

Longfellow.

2. To seek; to use or adopt measures to obtain; as, to pursue a remedy at law.

The fame of ancient matrons you pursue .

Dryden.

3. To proceed along, with a view to some and or object; to follow; to go in; as, Captain Cook pursued a new route; the administration pursued a wise course.

4. To prosecute; to be engaged in; to continue. " Insatiate to pursue vain war." Milton.

5. To follow as an example; to imitate.

6. To follow with enmity; to persecute; to call to account.

The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have pursued me, they shall pursue you also.

Wyclif (John xv. 20).

Syn. -- To follow; chase; seek; persist. See Follow .

Pursue intransitive verb
1. To go in pursuit; to follow.

The wicked flee when no man pursueth .

Prov. xxviii. 1.

Men hotly pursued after the objects of their ambition.

Earle.

2. To go on; to proceed, especially in argument or discourse; to continue.

[ A Gallicism]

I have, pursues Carneades, wondered chemists should not consider.

Boyle.

3. (Law) To follow a matter judicially, as a complaining party; to act as a prosecutor. Burrill.

Pursuer noun
1. One who pursues or chases; one who follows in haste, with a view to overtake.

2. (Eccl. & Scots Law) A plaintiff; a prosecutor.

Pursuit noun [ French poursuite , from poursuivre . See Pursue , transitive verb ]
1. The act of following or going after; esp., a following with haste, either for sport or in hostility; chase; prosecution; as, the pursuit of game; the pursuit of an enemy. Clarendon.

Weak we are, and can not shun pursuit .

Shak.

2. A following with a view to reach, accomplish, or obtain; endeavor to attain to or gain; as, the pursuit of knowledge; the pursuit of happiness or pleasure.

3. Course of business or occupation; continued employment with a view to same end; as, mercantile pursuits ; a literary pursuit .

4. (Law) Prosecution. [ Obsolete]

That pursuit for tithes ought, and of ancient time did pertain to the spiritual court.

Fuller.

Curve of pursuit (Geom.) , a curve described by a point which is at each instant moving towards a second point, which is itself moving according to some specified law.

Pursuivant noun [ French poursuivant , from poursuivre . See Pursue , and confer Pursuant .] [ Written also poursuivant .]
1. (Heralds' College) A functionary of lower rank than a herald, but discharging similar duties; -- called also pursuivant at arms ; an attendant of the heralds. Also used figuratively.

The herald Hope, forerunning Fear,
And Fear, the pursuivant of Hope.

Longfellow.

2. The king's messenger; a state messenger.

One pursuivant who attempted to execute a warrant there was murdered.

Macaulay.

Pursuivant transitive verb To pursue. [ Obsolete & R.]

Their navy was pursuivanted after with a horrible tempest.

Fuller.

Pursy adjective [ Old French pourcif , poulsif , poussif , from pousser to push, thrust, heave, Old French also poulser : confer French pousse the heaves, asthma. See Push .] Fat and short-breathed; fat, short, and thick; swelled with pampering; as, pursy insolence. Shak.

Pursy important he sat him down.

Sir W. Scot.

Purtenance noun [ Abbrev. from appurtenance .] That which pertains or belongs to something; esp., the heard, liver, and lungs of an animal. [ Obsolete] " The purtenaunces of purgatory." Piers Plowman.

Roast [ it] with fire, his head with his legs, and with the purtenance [ Rev. Ver. , inwards] thereof.

Ex. xii. 9.

Purulence, Purulency noun [ Latin purulentia : confer French purulence .] (Medicine) The quality or state of being purulent; the generation of pus; also, the pus itself. Arbuthnot.

Purulent adjective [ Latin purulentus , from pus , puris , pus, matter: confer French purulent . See Pus .] (Medicine) Consisting of pus, or matter; partaking of the nature of pus; attended with suppuration; as, purulent inflammation.

Purulently v. In a purulent manner.

Purveance, Purveiaunce noun Purveyance. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.