quarter-eagle

A form of quarter eagle — A former gold coin of the United States, worth two dollars and fifty cents.

Meanings

nounquarter-eagle (plural quarter-eagles)

plural quarter-eagles

  1. alternativeAlternative form of quarter eagle.

    It is alſo ſtated that the quantity of gold coin iſſued during the ſame period, has been 9177 eagles[,] 6400 half-eagles, 1756 quarter-eagles; equal to the value of 128,190 dollars.

    1797 December 23 – 1798 January 6, “Congressional. House of Representatives.”, in The Washington Gazette, volume II, number 25, Washington, D.C.: Benjamin More, →OCLC, front page, column 1
    2 more examples

    Pretty little gloves pelted us with love-taps. The sterner sex forced upon us pocket-knives new and jagged, combs, soap, slippers, boxes of matches, cigars by the dozen and the hundred, pipes to smoke shag and pipes to smoke Latakia, fruit, eggs, and sandwiches. One fellow got a new purse with ten bright quarter-eagles.

    1861 June, [Theodore Winthrop], “New York Seventh Regiment”, in The Atlantic Monthly. […], volume VII, number XLIV, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, […]; London: Trübner and Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 745, columns 1–2

    Gold coins were in U.S. circulation through 1933, when the gold standard was abolished. Many were based on the $10 “eagle,” with corresponding quarter-eagles of $2.50, half-eagles of $5, and double-eagles of $20, along with 1-dollar gold pieces.

    2023 August 12–13, “U.S. currency denominations smaller than they used to be”, in Daily Chronicle, DeKalb, Ill.: Shaw Local News Network, →OCLC, page 8, columns 1–2
Cite this entry
APA

quarter-eagle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quarter-eagle

MLA

“quarter-eagle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quarter-eagle. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “quarter-eagle,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quarter-eagle.

Source: quarter-eagle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.