fractional currency

American  

noun

1. coins or paper money of a smaller denomination than the basic monetary unit.

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fractional currency British  

noun

1. paper or metal money of smaller denomination than the standard monetary unit

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Etymology

Origin of fractional currency

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fractional currency

He opened the first bank in Stillwater when fractional currency was in demand.

From Fifty Years In The Northwest With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes by William Henry Carman Folsom

Roy Thompson.—There is no premium on the fractional currency used during the war, unless it is perfectly fresh and has never been circulated.

From Harper's Round Table, July 2, 1895 by Various

This bill simply directs that the Secretary of the Treasury shall purchase this bullion and shall coin silver coin and substitute that in the place of fractional currency.

From Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet An Autobiography. by John Sherman

Throughout most of the war they were supplemented by the notes of state banks, local token-money, and fractional currency, or "shinplasters," of the United States.

From The New Nation by William E. Dodd

"Fifty cents on the deuce; 50 cents on the five," said Shorty, laying down the fractional currency.

From Si Klegg, Book 3 (of 6) Si And Shorty Meet Mr. Rosenbaum, The Spy, Who Relates His Adventures by John McElroy

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