shilling
/ˈʃɪlɪŋ/ noun, proper noun
Also a form of shill
Forms shillings
- noun (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.
- noun The currency of Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.
- noun (US, historical) A currency in the United States, differing in value between states.
- noun (US, historical, New York and some other states) The Spanish real, formerly having the value of one eighth of a dollar.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
bob generalise gen hog Abraham's willing deener Ugandan shilling Tanzanian shilling Somalian shilling Kenyan shilling British shilling
Etymology
From Middle English schilling, shilling, from Old English sċilling, from Proto-West Germanic *skilling, 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).
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A silver coin, and money of account, of Great Britain and its dependencies, equal to twelve pence, or the twentieth part of a pound, equivalent to about twenty-four cents of the United States currency.
- noun In the United States, a denomination of money, differing in value in different States. It is not now legally recognized.
Etymology [OE. shilling, schilling, AS. scilling; akin to D. schelling, OS. & OHG. scilling, G. schilling, Sw. & Dan. skilling, Icel. skillingr, Goth. skilliggs, and perh. to OHG. scellan to sound, G. schallen.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “shilling”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details