| 释义 |
ˌhalf-ˈsovereign
1. An English gold coin, nominally worth 50 pence (ten shillings). The sum is also expressed by half a sovereign.
Originally (with the sovereign) coined in 1489 (but see quot. 1884); in the 17th c. these coins were superseded by the guinea and half-guinea, for which the sovereign and half-sovereign were again substituted in 1817: see sovereign.
1503–4Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 5 §1 All maner of Gold of the Coynes of a Sovereyn Halfe Sovereyn [etc.]. 1551Proclam. Edw. VI, in Wriothesley's Chron. (1877) II. 59 The half soueraigne of crowne gould of tenne shillinges. 1817Proclam. in Lond. Gaz. 11 Oct. 2093/1 To order that certain pieces of gold money should be coined, which should be called ‘half sovereigns or ten shilling pieces’. 1884Kenyon Gold Coins Eng. 77 This [the ryal] is doubtless the coin mentioned as a half-sovereign in the Statute 19 Henry VII, c. 5..As the reverse is unlike the ryals and the same as that of the sovereigns, it would very likely be popularly called a half-sovereign.
2. The name given by paviors to a 6-in. Purbeck stone pitcher; also to a granite pitching, because it is worth half a sovereign a yard (Dict. Archit. 1851). |