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.

---

shinplaster British  

/ ˈʃɪnˌplɑːstə /

noun

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

---

Etymology

Origin of shinplaster

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

Example Sentences

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 Smith, Seba

It’s healthy and it’s moral, and it’s goin’ to make Omyha look like a shinplaster.

From Desert Dust by Shepherd, J. Clinton

Marse Adam pull out a big flat black pocket-book and gived me a shinplaster, and say: 'Jesse, ever time your basket h'ist de beam of de steelyards to 100, you gits a shinplaster.'

From Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves South Carolina Narratives, Part 4 by Work Projects Administration

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 Straus, Oscar S.