stiver
noun/ˈstaɪvə/
Etymology From Dutch stuiver, cognate with Middle Low German stüver.
1
Business, Finance, Money Historical A small Dutch coin worth one twentieth of a guilder.
2
Anything of small value.
- ’Tis not worth a single stiver, said the bandy-leg'd drummer.1761, Laurence Sterne, The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume 4, Penguin, published 2003, page 223:
- [A]ll hands, including the captain, received certain shares of the profits called lays […] And though the 275th lay was what they call a rather long lay, yet it was better than nothing; and if we had a lucky voyage, might pretty nearly pay for the clothing I would wear out on it, not to speak of my three years' beef and board, for which I would not have to pay one stiver.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 16”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC: