shroff

American  

[shrof] / ʃrɒf /

noun

1. (in India) a banker or moneychanger.

2. (in East Asia, especially China) a local expert employed to test the purity of a coin’s metal content, especially silver or gold.

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verb (used with object)

1. to test (coins) to ascertain the purity of the metal content, especially silver or gold.

shroff British  

/ ʃrɒf /

noun

1. (in China, Japan, etc, esp formerly) an expert employed to separate counterfeit money or base coin from the genuine

2. (in India) a moneychanger or banker

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verb

1. (tr) to test (money) and separate out the counterfeit and base

Etymology

Origin of shroff

First recorded in 1610–20; earlier sharoffe from Portuguese xarrafo, probably from Gujarati śaraf, from Arabic ṣayrāfī “moneychanger”

Example Sentences

And whenever Hersey needs an idea and can't find one�it happens all the time�he uses a big word instead: cangue, coffle, fulvous, hame, jingal, liripipe, m�tayer, panyar, purlin, psora, shroff, sycee.*

From Time Magazine Archive

Gaddy never had dealings with a shroff in his life.

From Soldiers Three by Kipling, Rudyard

The exportation of unmanufactured brass, of what is called gun-metal, bell-metal, and shroff metal, still continues to be prohibited.

From An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Smith, Adam

This table is covered with a fine grass mat and surrounded on three sides with benches for the players, while on the fourth side sit the croupier and the banker or shroff.

From Life and sport in China Second Edition by Ready, Oliver George

She recognised Withers and the shroff and came forward.

From Civilization Tales of the Orient by La Motte, Ellen Newbold