Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Breathing laboriously or convulsively: Describes a state of breathing with difficulty, often with short, heavy breaths, as from exertion or a medical condition.
   • (Archaic) Fat, corpulent: An older, now less common meaning describing someone who is overweight or stout.
   • (Archaic) Puckered, wrinkled: An older, now rare meaning describing something that is gathered into folds or wrinkles.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Breathing):
  • After climbing the steep hill, the out-of-shape hiker was pursy and had to sit down.
  • The doctor noted the patient's pursy breathing as a symptom of the illness.
• Adjective (Archaic - Fat):
  • The old portrait depicted a pursy gentleman in a fine coat. (This usage is now rare.)
• Adjective (Archaic - Puckered):
  • The purse had a pursy opening at the top. (This usage is very rare and etymologically linked to "purse".)

Advanced Usage

• Descriptive Medical Context: Often used in literary or descriptive medical writing to characterize difficult breathing more vividly than clinical terms like "dyspneic."
  • His face was red and his breath was pursy from the panic attack.

Variants and Related Words

• Pursiness (noun, rare): The state of being pursy, especially referring to shortness of breath or corpulence.
  • The pursiness he experienced was a clear sign he needed to start exercising.

Synonyms

• Short-winded: Breathing quickly and with difficulty.
• Winded: Temporarily breathless from exertion.
• Dyspneic: (Medical term) Experiencing difficult or labored breathing.
• Corpulent: (For the archaic meaning) Having a large, bulky body.

Notes on Meaning

• The primary modern meaning relates to labored breathing. The other definitions are considered archaic and are rarely encountered in contemporary English. The word itself is somewhat literary and not common in everyday speech.

Adjective

1. breathing laboriously or convulsively