A silver coin of the United States, value 5 cents, issued from 1792 to 1873 (from 1866 of copper and nickel), popularly called a nickel.
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society > trade and finance > money > medium of exchange or currency > coins collective > foreign coins > [noun] > North American coins > U.S. > five-cent piece
half-dime1796
nickel1857
jitney1903
jit1913
1796 T. TwiningTrav. Amer. (1894) 170 The silver coins, of dollars, half and quarter ditto, dimes or tenths, and half-dimes.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online June 2012).