pursiness

Meanings

nounpursiness (uncountable)

The state of being pursy.
1. uncountableShortness of breath, especially due to fatness.
  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
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  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 […]
2. uncountableFatness, 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,
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  PURSINESS, […] obesity.
  1872, C. H. Cleaveland, Pronouncing Medical Lexicon, 14th edition, Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, page 202
  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.
3. uncountableThe state of being puckered.
  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
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  […] 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