subs. (nautical).—A ship’s storekeeper: used contemptuously as follows:—PURSER’S DIP (QUART, &c.) = an undersized candle, or quart short in measure; PURSER’S GRIN = a hypocritical or satirical sneer: e.g., ‘There are no half laughs or PURSER’S GRINS about me, I’m right up and down like a yard of pump water,’ meaning that the speaker is in earnest; PURSER’S-NAME = a false name; PURSER’S SHIRT ON A HANDSPIKE (said of ill-fitting clothes); PURSER’S-GRIND (venery) = ‘plenty of prick and no money’: a YIDDISH COMPLIMENT (q.v.).
1748. SMOLLETT, Roderick Random, xxxiii. We had languished five weeks on the allowance of a PURSER’S QUART per diem for each man.
