Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PUS'SY, a. [Fr. poussif, from pousser, to push; Sw. pösa, to swell or inflate; Ir. baois, lust, vanity; allied to boast. This word has been written pursy, evidently by mistake. We have the word probably from the French poussif, from pousser, to push.]

Properly, inflated, swelled; hence, fat, short and thick; and as persons of this class make labor in respiration, the word is used for short breathed.