[a. F. bourse in same sense, literally ‘purse.’ The form BURSE was in regular use from c. 1550 to c. 1775, when it became obsolete; bourse is a re-adoption of the word from modern French, as an alien term.]
An exchange, or place of meeting for merchants; the money-market (of a foreign town). Used esp. of the French institution corresponding to the Stock Exchange in London.
[1597. Bp. Hall, Sat., VI. i. Trampling the bourses [ed. 1599 burses] marble twice a day.]
1845. Disraeli, Sybil (1863), 45. With the exception of … some sombre mansions, a dingy inn, and a petty bourse, Marney mainly consisted of a variety of narrow … lanes.
1861. Motley, Dutch Rep., II. 289. It was a common subject of discussion on the Bourse at Antwerp.
1885. Standard, 10 April, 5/8. An arbitragist … is a person who speculates between two Bourses by the help of a partner or confrère in Paris, Berlin, or wherever he may choose to arrange.
