benjamin

plural benjamins

1. countableuncountableA balsamic resin from the bark of Styrax trees used in perfumes, incense, and medicine; benzoin resin.
2. countableuncountableA type of tree which produces benzoin or has similar properties; specifically, Styrax benzoin, Lindera benzoin; a Benjamin bush.

plural benjamins

1. UKdatedslangA kind of upper coat for men.

   something which is not long enough to constitute a benjamin, and too long for a dress coat or spencer

   1826, The Atheneum, volume 18, page 236

   1 more example

   How the young man from Cambridge sulkily put his five great-coats in front; but was reconciled when little Miss Sharp was made to quit the carriage, and mount up beside him—when he covered her up in one of his Benjamins, and became perfectly good-humoured—

   1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC

plural benjamins

1. USslangAlternative letter-case form of Benjamin: a US $100 bill.

plural Benjamins

1. countableuncountablebiblicalThe youngest of the sons of Jacob and Rachel in the Bible.

   And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.

   1 more example

   What about the youngest child - the Benjamin - the child of its parents' mature strength and charity, always better treated than the unfortunate eldest children of their youthful ignorance and wilfulness?

   1908, George Bernard Shaw, Getting Married

2. countableuncountableA male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.

   "Well, who the hell ever thinks some boy with a name like Benjamin is going to kill someone?" I said. "It's like someone named Winnie the Pooh taking hostages!"

   2007, Mark Schreiber, Starcrossed, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN, page 53

   1 more example

   For it would surely improve the domestic standing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an unbudgeable hawk, and thereby indefinitely delay peace on that Middle Eastern front.

   2009 October 1, “Answering Iran’s Nuclear Challenge”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2022

3. countableuncountableA small city, the county seat of Knox County, Texas, United States.
4. countableuncountableA patrilineal surname transferred from the given name.

plural Benjamins · alternative benjamin

1. USin pluraloftenslangA $100 bill, which bears a portrait of Benjamin Franklin.

   Health Care: It's All About the Benjamins [title]

   2006 April 12, Dean Ornish, “Health Care: It's All About the Benjamins”, in Newsweek, archived from the original on 28 Nov 2006

   4 more examples

   Fuck the past, let's dwell on the 500SL, the E&J and ginger ale / The way my pockets swell to the rims with Benjamins

   1994, “One More Chance”, in Ready to Die, performed by The Notorious B.I.G.

   Swimmin' in women wit they own condominiums / Five plus fives, who drive millenniums / It's all about the Benjamins, what?

   1997, “It's All About the Benjamins”, in No Way Out, performed by Puff Daddy ft. Lil' Kim, the Lox, and The Notorious B.I.G.

   Sneering through gold grillz, inked to the neck in bad tattoos and representing my area code, Franco leads the spring breakers through a stylized, mtv version of thug life, replete with drugs, guns, Benjamins and booty call.

   2015, Thomas Hallock, “City Creeks: Lessons in Sustainable Environmental Discourse from a Florida Boom Town”, in Mark Luccarelli, Sigurd Bergmann, editors, Spaces in-between: Cultural and Political Perspectives on Environmental Discourse, Leiden; Boston, Mass.: Brill-Rodopi, →ISBN, part 1 (Lived Spaces and Political Contexts), page 89

   He pursed his lips, went to the cash register, and opened it. He pulled out two Benjamins and a US Grant, which he set down on the glass case before me.

   2019, Vincent Zandri, chapter 2, in The Caretaker’s Wife, Hoboken, N.J.: Polis Books, →ISBN

   Synonyms: Ben, Ben Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, Franklin