circulating medium

American  

noun

1. any coin or note passing, without endorsement, as a medium of exchange.

2. such coins or notes collectively.

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circulating medium British  

noun

1. finance currency serving as a medium of exchange

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Etymology

Origin of circulating medium

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

It was Secretary Fessenden’s policy to avoid a further increase of the circulating medium, and to redeem or consolidate the temporary obligations outstanding.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 3 "Fenton, Edward" to "Finistere" by Various

Indeed, they are used as a kind of circulating medium.

From Sketches of Reforms and Reformers, of Great Britain and Ireland by Stanton, Henry B.

Its establishment originated in the imperious obligation imposed on every government to furnish its people with a circulating medium for their commerce.

From The Works of Daniel Webster, Volume 1 by Webster, Daniel

But his effort to contract and steady the circulating medium excited protests from a community that was growing rich in the rapid inflation of values.

From The South American Republics Part I of II by Dawson, Thomas C.

Constitutional powers, of the kind last mentioned—that is, the power to ordain a standard of value and to provide a circulating medium for a legal tender—are subject to no mutations of any kind.

From Monopolies and the People by Cloud, D. C.