Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Dollar

Dol′lar, n. [D. daalder, LG. dahler, G. thaler, an abbreviation of Joachimsthaler, i. e., a piece of money first coined, about the year 1518, in the valley (G. thal) of St. Joachim, in Bohemia. See Dale.] 1. (a) A silver coin of the United States containing 371.25 grains of silver and 41.25 grains of alloy, that is, having a total weight of 412.5 grains. (b) A gold coin of the United States containing 23.22 grains of gold and 2.58 grains of alloy, that is, having a total weight of 25.8 grains, nine-tenths fine. It is no longer coined.

☞ Previous to 1837 the silver dollar had a larger amount of alloy, but only the same amount of silver as now, the total weight being 416 grains. The gold dollar as a distinct coin was first made in 1849. The eagles, half eagles, and quarter eagles coined before 1834 contained 24.75 grains of gold and 2.25 grains of alloy for each dollar.

2. A coin of the same general weight and value, though differing slightly in different countries, current in Mexico, Canada, parts of South America, also in Spain, and several other European countries.

3. The value of a dollar; the unit commonly employed in the United States in reckoning money values.

Chop dollar. See under 9th Chop. — Dollar fish (Zoöl.), a fish of the United States coast (Stromateus triacanthus), having a flat, roundish form and a bright silvery luster; — called also butterfish, and Lafayette. See Butterfish. — Trade dollar, a silver coin formerly made at the United States mint, intended for export, and not legal tender at home. It contained 378 grains of silver and 42 grains of alloy.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.