Definition of "burse" []

• A purse. (noun)
• Ecclesiastical A flat cloth case for carrying the corporal that is used in celebrating the Eucharist. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The burse, which is simply a cover used to keep the corporal from being soiled, and which for that reason was known in Old English as a "corporas-case", is somewhat older."
• "The "burse" is a square, stiff pocket of silk over cardboard, in which the Altar-linen is carried to and from the Altar."
• ""burse" (Lat. _bursa_, Gr. [Greek: borsa], bag of skin) is particularly used of the embroidered purse which is one of the insignia of office of the lord high chancellor of England, and of the pouch which in the Roman Church contains the "corporal" in the service of the Mass."