- a variation of piaster.
piastre
Britishnoun
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(formerly) the standard monetary unit of South Vietnam, divided into 100 cents
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a fractional monetary unit of Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria worth one hundredth of a pound; formerly also used in the Sudan
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another name for kuruş
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a rare word for piece of eight
Etymology
Origin of piastre
C17: from French piastre, from Italian piastra d'argento silver plate; related to Italian piastro plaster
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.
If Hosni Mubarak has passed his alleged $70bn through British banks, the Egyptians won't see a piastre of it.
From The Guardian • Feb. 7, 2011
Today the improved flow has so increased the supply of goods coming into Saigon that it has driven down the black-market rate of the piastre from 173 to 145 to the dollar.
From Time Magazine Archive
Not far off lay an Egyptian piastre, but it was the "dime" which thrilled me.
From Lord John in New York by Williamson, A. M. (Alice Muriel)
Pieces of five and ten piastres value were also coined, as well as a few single piastre pieces, on one side of which was stamped the Toghra, and on the other the word "Omdurman."
From Ten Years' Captivity in the Mahdi's Camp 1882-1892 by Wingate, F. R.
The cheapest rate we obtained for eggs was eight for a piastre, or four a penny, whereas when the gendarmes had their own way we had to pay a penny for each.
From A Kut Prisoner by Bishop, H. C. W.
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.
