belt purse

belt purse

English

19th century image of Sikh military men; the man on the left is wearing a belt purse

Alternative forms

• belt-purse
• beltpurse

Noun

belt purse (plural belt purses)

1. A small purse worn against the body, attached to a belt.
   • 1874, Harry Lemon, “Dismal Dan’s Big Diamonds: A Christmas Story,” Cape Monthly Magazine, Volume 9, No. 54, December 1874, p. 373,

     I had wrapped the stones in a strong piece of soft leather, which I had stitched inside my belt purse.

   • 1959, Jefferson Cooper, Captain Seadog, New York: Pocket Books, Chapter Twelve, p. 155,

     His hand touched the belt purse that held his unsigned commission as he swung off the rope ladder to step into the smallboat.

   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, The Kingdom of the Wicked, New York: Arbor House, Chapter Five, p. 374,

     From his beltpurse he took the carved white bones with black dots on them.

   • 2009, Jeffrey L. Forgeng & Will McLean, Daily Life in Chaucer’s England, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2nd edition, Chapter 6, p. 141,

     Such pouches were also kept inside a belt-purse as a handy way to store coins.

See also

• sporran