Meanings
nounpublic purse (plural public purses)
plural public purses
- idiomaticeconomicsA quantity of money collected by a government through taxation and other methods, and used for public purposes; public funds, public money.
Money in the public purse should be spent in the public interest.
1 more example
This means that while initial funding will come from the public purse, landowners along the route will eventually pay back a share of the uplift in land values created by the new line.
2021 February 10, “Network News: Additional Funds Enable Preparatory Work for Ashington Reopening”, in Rail, number 924, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 8
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 公款, 國庫 /国库
- 公款 (gōngkuǎn)quantity of money collected by a government and used for public purposes
- 國庫 /国库 (guókù)quantity of money collected by a government and used for public purposes
Finnish yhteiset varat
- yhteiset varatquantity of money collected by a government and used for public purposes
French deniers publics
- deniers publicsquantity of money collected by a government and used for public purposes
German Staatskasse, öffentliche Hand
- Staatskassequantity of money collected by a government and used for public purposes
- öffentliche Handquantity of money collected by a government and used for public purposes
Polish kasa państwowa, skarb państwa
- kasa państwowaquantity of money collected by a government and used for public purposes
- skarb państwaquantity of money collected by a government and used for public purposes
Spanish erario público
- erario públicoquantity of money collected by a government and used for public purposes
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with public purse
universereversenurseworsediverseversepurseconversetraversetransversereimburseperversedisperseimmerseaversecoerceterseobversehearsemultiversedisburseperserecurseburse
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
public purse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/public%20purse
MLA
“public purse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/public%20purse. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “public purse,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/public%20purse.
Source: public purse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.