| 释义 |
piastre, piaster|pɪˈæstə(r)|
Forms: 7 (piastra, -o), pyaster, 7– piaster, piastre.
[a. F. piastre (1611 Cotgr.), ad. It. piastra ‘any kind of plate or leafe of mettall’ (Florio); as applied to a coin, short for piastra d'argento ‘plate of silver’, applied to the Spanish silver peso, whence also to the Turkish coin derived from it.
Piastra represents a late Lat. or Romanic *plastra for L. emplastra (Gell.), by-form of emplastrum plaster (cf. It. piastro plaster), a. Gr. ἔµπλαστρον (Galen), var. of ἔµπλαστον plaster, f. ἐµπλάσσειν to daub on.]
1. A name, of Italian origin, for the Spanish peso duro, piece of eight, or dollar, and its representatives in Spanish America and other countries.
[1617Moryson Itin. i. 291 At Venice..the Spanish piastro of siluer is giuen for sixe lires.] 1630Capt. Smith Trav. & Adv. iii. 5 Pyasters, Chicqueenes and Sultanies, which is gold and silver. 1674Blount Glossogr. (ed. 4), Piaster, a Coyn in Italy, about the value of our Crown. 1776Ann. Reg. 119 At Lisbon..the king..immediately ordered her 20,000 piastres. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 650 The happiness of a people is not to be estimated by the piastres of their traders. 1882Bithell Counting-ho. Dict. (1893) 227 The Spanish Piastre is synonymous with the dollar or duro, sterling value 49·478d. Ibid. 228 The Spanish Piastre for exchange purposes is an imaginary coin of 5 pesetas or francs = 47·578 pence. Ibid., The Piastre or Mocha Dollar is the unit of value in Arabia, and is worth nearly 3s 5d.
2. The English (French, German, etc.) name (It., Sp. piastra) of a small Turkish coin, called in Turkish ghūrūsh, 1/100 of a Turkish pound, having in Turkey, in 1900, a circulating value of about 2d., in Egypt about 2½d., and in Tunis about 6d.
Originally the Spanish dollar, introduced into the Levant by the Venetians, but rapidly depreciated, being worth in 1618, 5s; in 1775, 2s. 6d.; in 1818, 9½d.; in 1877, 2½d.; in 1903, 2d.
1611Cotgr., Piastre, a Turkish Coyne worth about iiijs. sterl. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 276 In Turkey..The coynes..most esteemed..are the siluer ryals of Spaine (which the Italians call Pezzi d'otto, and Pezzi di quattro, pieces of eight, and pieces of foure, and the Turks call piastri, and halfe piastri). 1775R. Chandler Trav. Asia Minor v. 16 A piaster is about half a crown English. 1819Byron Juan ii. cxxv, The sole of many masters Of an ill-gotten million of piastres. 1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile ix. 241 Two silver piastres, or about fivepence English. 1899J. Aird in Westm. Gaz. 8 Mar. 7/2 At Assouan..They get between three and four piastres a day, amounting to about a penny an hour, or five shillings a week.
3. (In form piastre.) The name of a unit of currency introduced in Indo-China under French rule in 1885.
1908Whitaker's Almanack 1909 618/1 The financial and political unity of Indo-China was finally established in 1898... The revenue, about 51,850,000 piastres, is derived mainly from customs, excise, and other indirect taxes. 1955[see kip n.8]. 1968R. West Sk. Vietnam i. 22 The street hawkers who offer you two hundred and fifty piastres a dollar. 1970Daily Tel. 22 July 14 In Saigon, prices are sky high. The piastre, officially worth 118 to the dollar, is traded by black marketeers at nearly 400 to the dollar. 1977Private Eye 1 Apr. 20/2 (Advt.), 100 piastre ({pstlg}70 face value) South Vietnamese note. |