assignat

plural assignats

1. historicalA banknote used during the French Revolution, on the security of state land.First known use 18th c.

   [O]n her request for money, I took out a parcel of assignats I had in my pocket.

   1792, Charlotte Smith, Desmond, Broadview, published 2001, page 387

   3 more examples

   If the landed man wishes to mortgage, he falls the value of his land, and raises the value of assignats.

   1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, Oxford, published 2009, page 196

   He was in favour of a national bank; he was strongly opposed to the reckless issue of assignats and spoke against it in the Assembly.

   1932, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society, published 2010, page 25

   The continuing depreciation of the assignat was worsening problems: in November and December, the currency's cash return dipped below 1 per cent of its face value, bringing a comic aspect to many exchanges and inducing street beggars to decline alms in paper form.

   2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 508