obolus
Americannoun
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a modern Greek unit of weight equal to one tenth of a gram
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a silver coin of ancient Greece worth one sixth of a drachma
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of obolus
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek obolós small coin, weight
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
The obolus for Charon, the cake of honey for Cerberus, the shadows of these articles would be borne and used by the shadow of the dead man.
From The Destiny of the Soul A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life by Alger, William Rounseville
“Not an obolus, by Jupiter!” he murmured, in a language which was not Tuscan or even Italian.
From Romola by Eliot, George
Other urns contained only some bones and the small coin which has been taken for Charon's obolus.
From The Wonders of Pompeii by Monnier, Marc
“To pay the Stygian ferry”: the river Styx, in the infernal regions, across which Charon conducted the souls, and received an obolus for his fee.
From The Browning Cyclop?dia A Guide to the Study of the Works of Robert Browning by Berdoe, Edward
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
