public purse

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pʌblɪk ˈpɜːs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pʌblɪk ˈpɜɹs/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s
• Hyphenation: publ‧ic purse

public purse (plural public purses)

1. (economics, government, idiomatic) A quantity of money collected by a government through taxation and other methods, and used for public purposes; public funds, public money.

   Money in the public purse should be spent in the public interest.

   • 2021 February 10, “Network News: Additional Funds Enable Preparatory Work for Ashington Reopening”, in Rail, number 924, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 8:

     This means that while initial funding will come from the public purse, landowners along the route will eventually pay back a share of the uplift in land values created by the new line.