pursiness

From pursy +‎ -ness.

pursiness (uncountable)

1. The state of being pursy.
   1. Shortness of breath, especially due to fatness.
      • 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:

        pursiness, Asthma, ǎtis. f.

      • 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. Fatness, 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,

      • 1872, C. H. Cleaveland, Pronouncing Medical Lexicon‎, 14th edition, Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, page 202:

        PURSINESS, […] obesity.

      • 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. The state of being puckered.
      • 1969, Susan Morrow, chapter 13, in A Season of Evil‎, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, page 120:

        When he smiled, the slight pursiness of his mouth disappeared, and a markedly irregular front tooth gave him a boyish air.

      • 2000, Miranda Jarrett, chapter 4, in Starlight‎, New York: Sonnet Books, page 57:

        […] as his lips pressed down upon hers, coaxing them to abandon their pursiness and relax, she gave a little moan of surprise.

• “pursiness”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.