bulse
English
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Portuguese bolsa. Doublet of purse and bolsa.
Noun
editbulse (plural bulses)
- (now rare) A bag or package of diamonds, gold dust or other precious materials.
- 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford, published 2008, page 997:
- [L]et me then comfort myself with the large treasure of Johnson's conversation which I have preserved for my own entertainment and that of the world, and let me exhibit what I have upon each occasion, whether more or less, whether a bulse, or only a few sparks of a diamond.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
- bulses of diamonds and bags of guineas