Meaning & use
pursers
Last updated
“pursers” is a form of “purser”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
nounplural
Officers on a ship or aircraft who look after passenger services, paperwork and money, and who supervise the cabin crew.
Grammar: Plural of purser; singular takes an or the: the purser announced the delay.
Patterns
- pursers on a ship
- pursers and cabin crew
The pursers on the cruise ship handled passenger complaints.
Airline pursers lead the cabin crew during each flight.
Several pursers were promoted after the review.
Word forms
| singular | purser |
|---|
Common combinations
- ship's pursers
- The ship's pursers kept accounts of every cabin charge.
- senior pursers
- Senior pursers brief the crew before departure.
- airline pursers
- Airline pursers report any incidents to the captain.
- train as pursers
- They trained as pursers before joining the fleet.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stewards
- Stewards serve passengers directly, while pursers have supervisory and administrative duties.
- cabin managers
- Cabin manager is a modern airline title with similar duties, but purser is the traditional word.
- cabin crew
- Cabin crew is a general group name, while pursers are the senior members of it.
Word family
Commonly confused: pursers or bursars?
pursers vs bursars
Bursars manage finances at a school or university, while pursers work on ships and aircraft.
Practice
Who would you most likely ask about a cabin charge on a cruise ship?
Choose one answer.
Pursers manage passenger services and accounts. Navigators and engineers handle the ship's course and machinery.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pursers”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.