obolus

American  

[ob-uh-luhs] / ˈɒb ə ləs /

noun

plural

oboli

1. a modern Greek unit of weight equal to 0.1 gram.

2. obole.

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obolus British  

/ ˈɒbələs, ˈɒbɒl /

noun

1. a modern Greek unit of weight equal to one tenth of a gram

2. a silver coin of ancient Greece worth one sixth of a drachma

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Etymology

Origin of obolus

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek obolós small coin, weight

Example Sentences

Hours rolled away, while the beautiful face of Winandermere looked as ugly as Styx, as we writhed along its banks, more miserably moaning than the hopeless beggar who sighed for the propitiatory obolus to Charon.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 370, August 1846 by Various

According to Philemon it amounted to one obolus, about four cents of our money.

From Woman under socialism by De Leon, Daniel

The obolus is valued by Mr. Hussey at something more than three half-pence; seven oboli and a half would therefore be about a shilling.

From The First Four Books of Xenophon's Anabasis by Watson, John Selby

"You are not called on to give me an obolus," rejoined Rodaja, "for I have not a grain of the fool about me!"

From The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes by Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de

Nicias, we are told, let out one thousand slaves to Sosias the Thracian, at an obolus a day each—the lessee being bound to restore them to him the same in number.

From Rambles and Studies in Greece by Mahaffy, J. P.