shinplaster

American  

[shin-plas-ter, -plah-ster] / ˈʃɪnˌplæs tər, -ˌplɑ stər /

noun

1. a plaster for the shin or leg.

2. Informal. (formerly)

   1. a piece of paper money of a denomination lower than one dollar.

   2. money of little value, as that issued on insufficient security.

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shinplaster British  

/ ˈʃɪnˌplɑːstə /

noun

1. a promissory note on brittle paper, issued by an individual

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Etymology

Origin of shinplaster

An Americanism dating back to 1815–25; shin ¹ + plaster

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shinplaster

Roberto Lopez, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, flew to Washington to beg for mercy or at least for time to go into the shinplaster business.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Wal," ses I, "Kernel, now kin you tell me why that fifty-cent shinplaster is like the war?"

From Letters of Major Jack Downing, of the Downingville Militia by Seba Smith

For change the barber gave them a sort of shinplaster money, each piece of which bore the legend: "Good for one shave or ten cents at the Palace Shaving Parlors, 16 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill."

From A Man for the Ages A Story of the Builders of Democracy by John Wolcott Adams

Mine was on a horse at the head of the procession, but I had a ten-cent "shinplaster," with which I bought some biscuits of the man.

From The Bright Side of Prison Life Experience, In Prison and Out, of an Involuntary Soujouner in Rebellion by Samuel A. Swiggett

For emergency use there had been issued one-pound treasury notes that looked more like a "shinplaster" of our Civil War days than like a dignified British pound.

From Under Four Administrations From Cleveland to Taft by Oscar S. Straus