currency

plural currencies

1. countableuncountableMoney or other items used to facilitate transactions.

   Wampum was used as a currency by Amerindians.

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   Money managers who play down currencies tend to argue that outguessing foreign exchange markets in the short term is perilous, and that, over the long haul, shifts in currency values tend to offset one another.

   1986 May 25, William G. McBride, “INVESTING; CHASING RETURNS IN DIFFERENT CURRENCIES”, in The New York Times

2. countableuncountablemore specificallyPaper money.

   Spangler went through his pockets, coming out with a handful of small coins, one piece of currency and a hard-boiled egg.

   1943, William Saroyan, chapter 3, in The Human Comedy

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   Two years on, and while the Sultan of Slowjamastan has instigated more than a few bizarre laws (he’s outlawed the wearing of Crocs, for example), the Republic also has all the trappings of a fledgling nation-state. It issues its own passports, flies its own flag, prints its own currency (“the duble”), and has a national anthem that’s played on state occasions.

   2023 June 8, Richard Collett, “He ran out of countries to visit, so he created his own”, in CNN

3. countableuncountableThe state of being current; general acceptance, recognition or use.

   The jargon’s currency.

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   Fear of punishment has no currency with me as long as I remain convinced of the larger value of what I have done.

   1983 April 9, Kenneth Hale Wehmann, “Conscientious Resistance”, in Gay Community News, page 5

4. countableobsoleteuncountableCurrent value; general estimation; the rate at which anything is generally valued.

   The bare name of Englishman […] too often gave a transient currency to the worthless and ungrateful.

   1819 July 31, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “English Writers on America”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number II, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, page 112

   1 more example

   He […] takes greatness of kingdoms according to their bulk and currency, and not after intrinsic value.

   a. 1627 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “Considerations Touching a Warre with Spaine. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC

5. countableobsoleteuncountableFluency; readiness of utterance.