shilling
nounUS, UK /ˈʃɪlɪŋ/
Etymology From Middle English schilling, shilling, from Old English sċilling, from Proto-Germanic *skillingaz, equivalent to skill + -ing. Doublet of scalding and schilling. Compare typologically Russian рубль (rublʹ) (akin to руби́ть (rubítʹ)), полти́на (poltína), полти́нник (poltínnik) (akin to Proto-Slavic *tęti).
Historical A coin formerly used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Australia, New Zealand and many other Commonwealth countries worth twelve old pence, or one twentieth of a pound sterling.
- A great bargain also had been[…]the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016:
The currency of Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.
US, Historical A currency in the United States, differing in value between states.
US, Historical The Spanish real, formerly having the value of one eighth of a dollar.
New York and some other states
Alternative, Historical Alternative form of schilling, a coin formerly used in Germany and German states, worth twelve pfennig.
- The smaller silver coins of Europe, such as the solidus or German shilling, the mark, and others never found their way east in any quantity on account of their small size and value.1909, United States Bureau of the Mint, “Annual Report of the Director of the Mint”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 281:
Alternative, Historical Alternative form of skilling, a coin formerly used in Denmark, Norway or Sweden, worth twelve penning.
- And without that profit an employee with my salary can make only a poor living and not be able to save one Danish shilling.2013, Selena Axelro Winsnes, A Danish Jew in West Africa: Wulff Joseph Wulff, Biography and Letters 1836-1842, pages 186-187:
- Synonyms
- bob, generalise, gen, hog, Abraham's willing, deener