| 释义 |
dollar|ˈdɒlə(r)|
Forms: 6 daleir, -er, dal(l)or, dalder, doler, dolor, 6–7 daller, 7–8 doller, -or, 7– dollar.
[In 16th c. daler, daller, a. LG. and early mod.Du. daler (mod.Du. daalder), = HG. taler, thaler, recorded by Alberus 1540, along with the full term Joachimstaler, lit. ‘(gulden) of Joachimsthal’ (in Bohemia), where they were coined in 1519, from a silver mine opened there in 1516 (Kluge). From LG. or HG. taken into other langs. In England before 1600 modified to dollar.]
1. The English name for the German thaler, a large silver coin, of varying value, current in the German states from the sixteenth century; esp. the unit of the German monetary union (1857–73) equal to 3 marks. Also of coins of northern countries, bearing equivalent names, as the rigsdaler of Denmark, riksdaler of Sweden.
1553R. Morysin & Sir T. Chamberlayne Let. 4 Apr. in E. Lodge Illustr. etc. Edw. VI, xxiii. (1791) I. 166 The Duke of Wirtemberg..shall have for his charges 66000 dalers. a1560Aberdeen Reg. V. 24 (Jam.) Twa siluer daleiris. 1560Gresham in Burgon Life & T. (1839) I. 334 To be received of the Countie of Mansfield..300,000 dallors; which, at five shillings each, is 75,000l. 1577Harrison England ii. xxv. (1877) i. 364 Of siluer coines..are the dalders, and such, often times brought ouer. 1588J. Read Compend. Method 68 A plate..in thickenesse of a Dolor of siluer. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 92, 2 dollars of money..every house one dollor. 1606Crt. & Times Jas. 1 (1849) I. 67 The King of Denmark..hath given in court 30,000 dollars. a1618Sylvester Selfe-Civil-War 108 For Dallers, Dolours hoordeth in my Chest. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Dollar, a foreign coin: The Zeoland, or common Dollar is worth 3 shillings sterling, the specie Dollar 5s. The Dollar of Riga 4s. 8d. Of Lunenburg and Brisgaw 4s. 2d. Of Hamburgh 3s. 2d. 1763Shenstone Economy i. 218 With nice precision learn A dollar's value. 1775Wraxall Tour North. Europe 101, I tender them one of fifty copper dollars. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VII. xvii. v. 56.
2. The English name for the peso or piece of eight (i.e. eight reales), formerly current in Spain and the Spanish American colonies, and largely used in the British N. American Colonies at the time of their revolt.
1581Rich Farewell Milit. Profession (Shaks. Soc.) 217 Their beardes sometymes cutte rounde, like a Philippes doler. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 41 A Spanish shilling (which is a fourth part of a Dollar). 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 108 As great as a silver Caroline Doller. 1767Franklin Wks. (1887) IV. 90 A dollar thereby coming to be rated at eight shillings in paper money of New York. 1779R. King in Life & Corr. (1894) I. 30 Could you send me three or four hundred of those good for nothing paper dollars? 1813Wellington 25 Feb. in Gurw. Desp. X. 143 Dollars are issued to the troops at the rate of 4/6 sterling each, which is the mint price of dollars in England. 1879H. Phillips Notes Coins 12 A silver dollar of Philip II of Spain bears among his other titles that of King of England.
3. a. The standard unit of the gold and silver coinage of the United States of America, containing 100 cents. Also a coin of corresponding value in Canada and some other countries. Sometimes abbreviated dol., but more generally represented by the dollar-mark $ before the number. (See also almighty a. 2.)
The decimal system of coinage and the dollar were adopted by the Continental Congress on 6 July 1785 (see quot.), but were not brought into use till 1794, two years after the law of 2 April 1792 establishing the mint.
[1782T. Jefferson Notes on a Money Unit for U.S. Wks. III. 446 The unit or [Spanish] dollar is a known coin and the most familiar of all to the mind of the people. It is already adopted from south to north. ]1785Resol. Continent. Congress U.S. 6 July, Resolved, that the money unit of the United States of America be one dollar. 1796Amer. State Papers For. Relat. (1832) I. 549 (Stanf. s.v. Douceur) Sixty thousand dollars were paid. 1821T. Jefferson Autobiog. Writ. 1892 I. 74, I proposed..to adopt the Dollar as our Unit of account and payment. 1837W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 25 The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land.
b. Colloq. phrases (orig. and chiefly U.S.): bottom dollar, see bottom n. 20; (it is) dollars to doughnuts (or buttons, etc.), (it is) almost assured; a certainty; (like) a million dollars, see million.
1884G. W. Peck Peck's Boss Book 130 It is dollars to buttons that..she will be blown through the roof. 1890Texas Siftings 8 Nov. 6/3 It is dollars to a doughnut..That some one will start a fire. 1904Boston Herald 8 Aug. 6 It is dollars to cobwebs that every such person will be disappointed. 1904Utica (N.Y.) Observer 29 June 6 They talk of fire drills;..it is dollars to doughnuts that not an excursion boat in New York harbor ever had one. 1932Atlantic Monthly Mar. 390/2 It is dollars to doughnuts not a soul will see him. 1936J. Curtis Gilt Kid xiii. 131 If he were seen it was dollars to doughnuts that he would be arrested.
4. a. Also used as a name for various foreign coins of a value more or less approaching that of the Spanish or American dollar; as the peso of Mexico, and of the republics of Central and South America, the piastre of Arabia, the yen of Japan, etc.
1882Bithell Counting-ho. Dict. (1893) 99 s.v. Doblon, The Gold Doblon of Chili weighing 7·626 grammes, ·900 fine, value 5 Chilian dollars, or 18s. 8·95d. Ibid. 222 s.v. Patacon, Patacon. (a.) The unit of value in the Argentine Republic (La Plata). It bears also the alternative names of Peso Duro, and Hard Dollar. Ibid. 226 s.v. Peso, The excellence of the Mexican peso, or dollar, renders it a favourite coin with all countries, and has given it much of the character of an international coin. Ibid. 228 s.v. Piastre, The Piastre or Mocha Dollar is the unit of value in Arabia, and is worth nearly 3s. 5d.
b. slang. A five-shilling piece; a crown.
5. With qualifying words. buzzard dollar, a name applied, in derision of the figure of an eagle on the reverse side, to the United States silver dollar of 412½ grains, coined in accordance with the Bland Bill of 1878. lion dollar, a Dutch coin bearing the figure of a lion; also current in New York in colonial times. pillar dollar, a silver coin of Spain, bearing a figure of the Pillars of Hercules, formerly current in the Spanish colonies in America: cf. sense 2. trade dollar, a silver dollar of 420 grains formerly coined by the United States mint for purposes of trade with eastern Asia. dollar of the fathers, a phrase applied to the silver dollar, by those who advocated its remonetization, which was effected in 1878: see quot. 1889.
a1725Whitworth Acc. Russia (1758) 77 Of the same goodness with Lyon Dollars, viz. twelve ounces fine silver, and four ounces alloy to the pound. 1768Gov. Moore To Earl of Hillsborough 14 May (Documents relating to Colon. Hist. of N.Y. VIII. 72), The Lyon Dollars (a species of money brought here by the first Dutch settlers) are rarely now seen. 1823Crabb Technol. Dict., s.v. The former [Spanish Dollars] are called pillar dollars, because they bear on the reverse the arms of Spain between two pillars. 1877N.Y. Tribune 21 July, 6 Some of the absurdities of the demand for the ‘Dollar of our Fathers’. 1878Nation (N.Y.) 10 Jan. 26 Linderman..was the projector of the trade-dollar. 1882Bithell Counting-ho. Dict. (1893) 301 The coinage of the Silver Trade Dollar was first authorized by the Act of Feb. 12th, 1873. 1889Farmer Amer., Dollar of the Fathers, a catch cry, turned by opponents into the ‘dollar of the daddies’, which was used during the remonetization agitation of 1877.
6. attrib. and Comb. dollar-bill, dollar-earner, dollar-earning adj., dollar-hunt, dollar-hunter, dollar-hunting n. and adj., dollar-note; dollar area, the area comprising countries where the American dollar is used as currency or as a basis for exchange, or whose sterling balances with British banks are freely convertible into dollars; dollar-a-year man U.S., a man who serves the government for a nominal salary; also transf.; dollar country, a country in the dollar area; dollar diplomacy orig. U.S., a foreign policy that seeks to further the financial and commercial interests of a country (spec. of America) abroad and often to extend its influence in international relations by means of these interests; dollar gap, the excess of a country's (spec. Britain's) receipts or imports from the United States or other countries in the dollar area over its payments or exports to those countries; dollar imperialism = dollar diplomacy; dollar-mark: see 3; dollar-sign U.S. = dollar-mark; dollar spot, a discoloured patch caused by disease, as on an animal or on turf; the disease itself; dollar store U.S., a shop in which all or most of the articles are priced at a dollar or less.
1946Hansard Commons 19 Nov. 688 Will the hon. Gentleman give an assurance that no goods will be purchased from the dollar area which can be purchased from the sterling area?
1918Lit. Digest 11 May 11/1 While the ‘dollar-a-year men’ undoubtedly did good work, the delay and friction in our war-machine became glaringly evident. 1952Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Oct. 702/3 This business man first turned banker; and then he turned Secretary of the Navy, and later of Defence, to serve his country as a dollar-a-year man.
1774N. Cresswell Jrnl. (1925) 21 A considerable sum in Four, Three, Two, One, Two-thirds, One-third and ‘One-Ninth’ of a Dollar Bills is struck in these Bills of Credit. 1813Kingston (Ontario) Gaz. 7 Sept. 3/3 Two hundred and fifty pounds in Dollar bills. c1828A. Lawrence Diary & Corr. (1855) 87 Dollar-bill was found in your chamber on the morning you left home. 1883Century Mag. XXVI. 596/2 Folding the dollar-bills that she had brought her. 1917H. T. Comstock Man thou Gavest 195 He..tucked the letter and dollar bill in the breast of his shirt. 1947Hansard Commons 8 July 2048 We are drawing nearly half our supplies from dollar countries. 1953Ann. Reg. 1952 338 The more northerly ‘dollar countries’ of Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Mexico.
1910Harper's Weekly 23 Apr. 8 An attempt is made..to outline..what is meant by the term ‘Dollar Diplomacy’, as it has come to be commonly applied to certain of the activities of Secretary Knox..in Honduras, in Liberia, [etc.]. 1940Economist 31 Aug. 277/2 The Nazis reinforce Argentina's distrust of American leadership by whispering campaigns on ‘dollar diplomacy’. 1958Times 17 July 3/3 There were three conflicting forces... The first was international Communism, the second aggressive nationalism, and, third, and more recent—dollar doctrine and diplomacy. 1958New Statesman 22 Feb. 224/3 Tourism is..our biggest single dollar-earner. 1962Harper's Bazaar Aug. 13 Scotch whisky—Britain's biggest dollar-earning export.
1948Ann. Reg. 1947 92 A year when the British people were introduced to a battle of the dollar gap. 1957Times 18 Nov. (Annual Financial & Commercial Rev.) p. i/1 Sterling came under such exceptional pressure in the current year, however, largely because of..the re-emergence of the dollar gap.
1892Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker ix. 138 Of all forms of the dollar-hunt, this wrecking had by far the most address to my imagination.
1848Mill Pol. Econ. II. iv. vi. 309 The life of the whole of one sex is devoted to dollar-hunting, and of the other to breeding dollar-hunters. 1900Daily News 25 Sept. 4/6 The dollar-hunting Americans. 1964Daily Tel. 12 Feb. 14 ‘Dollar imperialism’ is condemned for disorganising or even preying on the liberation of Britain's empire.
1847Boston Weekly Mail 23 Jan. 3/6 The dollar mark..is only applied, properly, to the United States coin, or currency, of that name. 1894Montreal Star Almanac for 1895. 132 It was found convenient to continue the old dollar-mark in the South, and to adopt it in the North.
1831Deb. Congress U.S. 22 Feb., App. p. cxxxix, Taking the issues of one, two, and three dollar notes, in the Eastern States as a guide. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxxiii, A little roll of dollar-notes fell out upon the ground. [1857Hist. Mag. I. 186 In 1784,..Jefferson in the memorial which proposed the dollar as the American money-unit, employed the $ sign.] 1895Montgomery Ward Catal. 223/3 Linen Markers Rubber Type Outfit... Consists of five printers' alphabets,..punctuation marks, dollar sign, [etc.]. 1920S. Lewis Main St. x. 115 The dollar-sign has chased the crucifix clean off the map.
1912J. R. Mohler et al. tr. Hutyra & Marek's Spec. Path. Dis. Dom. Animals I. vi. 826 The number of the dollar spots may be considerable, even exceeding one hundred. 1922C. R. Edmonds Dis. Anim. S. Afr. 340 About the fortieth day the ‘plaques’ or dollar spots first appear in the skin. 1926Bull. U.S. Golf Assoc. Green Section May 129 Small [brown-]patch is generally limited to about the size of a silver dollar, from which it has been commonly referred to as ‘dollar spot’. 1935Gardeners' Chron. 23 Feb. 129/1 Investigation of diseases of turf of lawns and greens has been prosecuted in the U.S.A. for many years, and the commonest diseases and causal organisms are well known, viz., Brown-patch, due to Rhizoctonia Solani, and Dollarspot, due to an unnamed species of Rhizoctonia. 1956Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) (ed. 2) IV. 2169/2 Dollar Spot is due to the fungus Sclerotinia homoeocarpa.
1872Harper's Mag. June 132/2 There are ever so many good girls in factories..and in ‘dollar stores’ too.
Hence ˈdollared a., furnished with dollars, wealthy. ˈdollarless a., without dollars: cf. penniless. dollaˈrocracy, nonce-wd.: see -cracy. ˈdollarship (humorously), the personality of a dollared man.
1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xvii. (D.) A dollarless and unknown man. 1869H. Deedes America 151 So long as their Dollarships' eyes and noses are not affected by his [the negro's] propinquity. 1884Longm. Mag. Feb. 386 The dollared lady. 1889Pall Mall G. 2 July 2/1 The phlegmatic assurance of dollarocracy. |