shinplaster


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shin·plas·ter

(shĭn′plăs′tər)
n.
1. A piece of paper money issued privately and devalued by inadequate security or by inflation.
2. A piece of paper money of small denomination issued by the government, especially one issued by the US government from 1862 to 1878.

[From its resemblance to paper used in plasters for sore legs.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

shinplaster

(ˈʃɪnˌplɑːstə)
n
(Banking & Finance) US and Canadian and Austral a promissory note on brittle paper, issued by an individual
[C19: so called because of its resemblance to a sticking plaster]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

shin•plas•ter

(ˈʃɪnˌplæs tər, -ˌplɑ stər)

n.
1. a plaster for the shin or leg.
2. Informal. (formerly)
a. a piece of paper money of a denomination lower than one dollar.
b. money of little value, as that issued on insufficient security.
[1815–25, Amer.]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun 1. shinplaster - paper money of little value issued on insufficient security
money - the most common medium of exchange; functions as legal tender; "we tried to collect the money he owed us"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
In the North a carpenter got three dollars a day, gold valuation; in the South he got fifty -- pay- able in Confederate shinplasters worth a dollar a bushel.
Wells, Robert Sherwood, Allen Ginsberg, Gore Vidal, Mario Cuomo, Garry Wills, Richard Slotkin (using an excerpt from Slotkin's inept shinplaster, Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln), E.L.
Weber, Free Banking, Wildcat Banking, and Shinplasters, FED.

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