What does purser mean?
A purser is an officer aboard a ship who is responsible for provisions, stores, and associated accounts. On passenger vessels, the role may include arranging food, supervising catering, and managing onboard supplies for passengers and crew. In earlier maritime practice, a purser also had custody of a ship’s money and valuables, giving the word a history of trust as well as administration. The title remained in use as shipping became more specialized, though the duties of storemanship, finance, and catering are now often divided among several people. In everyday conversation, “purser” is uncommon outside maritime settings, but in shipping, naval history, and the literature of ocean travel it remains a precise and familiar designation for the officer responsible for a ship’s practical stores and accounts.
nounA ship’s officer responsible for provisions, stores, and related accounts, especially aboard passenger or merchant ships. Historically, the purser also had custody of a ship’s money and valuables.
- A maritime officer responsible for provisions, stores, and related accounts aboard a ship.
- Historically, an officer entrusted with a ship’s money, valuables, or other entrusted property.
"The purser arranged fresh provisions for the passengers before the ship reached port."
"The ship's purser reported that the remaining food supplies were sufficient for another three days."
"In the early modern period, a ship's purser was expected to safeguard the captain's money and valuables."
Plural when referring to more than one ship’s purser or to the office as a profession.
"The two pursers coordinated the provisioning of the ships."
Once responsible for a ship’s money, food, and valuables, the purser remains the maritime officer behind the scenes who keeps provisions and accounts in order.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does purser come from?
The word entered Middle English in the form “purser” and developed through Anglo-French from a term connected with “purse.” Its ultimate root is Latin “bursa,” meaning a pouch or purse. The earlier sense of the word reflected the purser's original responsibility for safeguarding a ship’s money and valuables; later usage broadened to include provisions and other stores.
How purser is actually used
The term is now chiefly maritime. Although it can sound old-fashioned, it remains standard in shipping contexts and historical writing.