privy purse


noun British.

a sum from the public revenues allotted to the sovereign for personal expenses.
a member of the royal household in charge of paying these expenses.

Origin of privy purse

First recorded in 1655–65

Example sentences from the Web for privy purse

  • He was his lordship's page, and rode a hunting and hawking with him, and kept his privy-purse.

British Dictionary definitions for privy purse

privy purse

noun (often capitals)

  1. (in Britain) an allowance voted by Parliament for the private expenses of the monarch: part of the civil list
  2. (in other countries) a similar sum of money for the monarch
an official of the royal household responsible for dealing with the monarch's private expenses Full name: Keeper of the Privy Purse