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coin

Syllabification: (coin)
Pronunciation: /koin/
Translate coin | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of coin

noun

  • a flat, typically round piece of metal with an official stamp, used as money.
  • money in the form of coins:large amounts of coin and precious metal
  • informal money:he showed me how we could make a lot of coin
  • (coins) one of the suits in some tarot packs, corresponding to pentacles in others.

verb

[with object]
  • 1make (coins) by stamping metal.
  • make (metal) into coins.
  • 2invent or devise (a new word or phrase):he coined the term “desktop publishing.”

Phrases

the other side of the coin

the opposite or contrasting aspect of a matter.

pay someone back in his or her own coin

retaliate with similar behavior.

to coin a phrase

said ironically when introducing a banal remark or cliché:I had to find out the hard way—to coin a phrase
said when introducing a new expression or a variation on a familiar one.

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French coin 'wedge, corner, die', coigner 'to mint', from Latin cuneus 'wedge'. The original sense was 'cornerstone', later 'angle or wedge' (senses now spelled quoin); in late Middle English the term denoted a die for stamping money, or a piece of money produced by such a die

coin in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of coin in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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