word of the day: bourse

The word of the day is bourse:

Etymology:  < French bourse in same sense, literally ‘purse’. The form burse n. was in regular use from c1550 to c1775, 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.  (OED)

"They were joined by national flagships: in the UK, Celltech, then British Biotech, then Celltech again (after British Biotech's demise on the stock exchange); for a while, Genset shone in France and Lion Bioscience in Germany, until they, too, disillusioned their bourses; then there was ES Cell International in Singapore and Macrogen in South Korea; and now we have Genmab in Denmark and Actelion in Switzerland and several potential flagships in Belgium (as is much in the nature of things Belgian)."

 -  "Where have the flagships gone?", Nature Biotechnology, 7 December 2012


The flowery prose is cute, but I fear the editors are losing control.