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purseful

purseful

1 8.9
An amount of small items like coins that fills a small bag
  • noun
  • /ˈpɜrsfəl/
  • Archaic
translation icon : bolsillo lleno
  • He opened his purseful of candy and shared it with everyone at the party.

Examples

  • After saving for months, she finally had a purseful of cash for her dream vacation.

  • Nix had appeared on their doorstep out of the dusk seven years before, a strange note and a purseful of money pinned to his shirt.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • and a purseful of ancient receipts.

    Blog text (7)
  • She carried a purseful of coins to buy gifts for her friends.

Synonyms

fistful
vspurseful
21 2.7

A small amount you can hold in a closed hand

measures the amount that fills a small pouch rather than a hand hold
pocketful
vspurseful
7 3.0

An amount of something that fills a pocket

fills a small personal pouch carried in a bag or by hand
containerful
vspurseful
3.7

The amount that fills a container

fills a small personal pouch rather than larger or varied containers

How Much

sackful
1 3.2
bagful
4 1.1
purseful
  • Archaic
1 8.9
handful
81 1.0
spoonful
26 1.0

Surface Forms

purseful singular
pursefuls plural

Morphology

purseful = purse (transparent) = purse + ful

Formed from 'purse' + the productive measure/quantity suffix '-ful' (as in 'handful'), so the meaning 'an amount that fills a purse' is directly derived.

Etymology

Purseful comes from purse, a 'small bag for money', plus the ending -ful, which means 'full of' or 'a quantity' and appears in words like handful or cupful. So, a purseful is simply the amount that fills a purse.