Purslane, a troublesome weed. The phrase “meaner’n pusley,” is common in some parts of the U.S.
1854. I flourish, professionally speaking, like pussley in a deserted pig-pasture, because of the capaciousness of my pulpit and pureness of the moral atmosphere surrounding it!—Dow, Jun., ‘Patent Sermons,’ iv. 14.
1861. When boiled, [it] is a most delicious and wholesome vegetable, the leaves being like spinach, and the branches in taste resembling sea-kale. In prairie settlements Pussley is always a standing dish.—N. A. Woods, ‘Prince of Wales in Canada and the U.S.,’ p. 309. (N.E.D.)
1878. It’s meaner ’n pusley to keep you here, and be a livin’ on your int’rest money when you ought to be arnin’ more, and I won’t do it, so there now!—Rose T. Cooke, ‘Happy Dodd,’ chap. xxx.
