Search the Dictionary

To shell. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

somewhat dainty in making a resolution, because when I make it, I keep it; I don't stand shill-I-shall-I then; if I say 't, I'll do 't. Congreve.

An oaken sapling or cudgel; any cudgel; -- so called from Shillelagh, a place in Ireland of that name famous for its oaks. [Irish] [Written also shillaly, and shillely.]

The Spanish real, of the value of one eight of a dollar, or 12 York shilling. Same as Shilling, 3.

with trifles. She lost not one of her forty-five minutes in picking and choosing, - - no shilly-shally in Kate. De Quincey.

but somewhat less emphatically. In such expressions as "twice an hour," "once an age," a shilling an ounce (see 2d A, 2), it has a distributive force, and is equivalent to each, every.

Each by itself; by the single one; to each; as the share of each; as, these melons cost a shilling apiece. "Fined . . . a thousand pounds apiece." Hume.

A shilling. [Slang, Eng.] Dickens.

A duty of two shillings on every tun of wine imported into England by merchant strangers; -- so called because paid to the king's butler for the king. Blackstone.

An English gold coin of the value of twenty or twenty-three shillings. It was first struck in the reign of Charles I. Told down the crowns and Caroluses. Macawlay.

ommon fund. They laid down the club. L'Estrange. We dined at a French house, but paid ten shillings for our part of the club. Pepys. Club law, government by violence; lynch law; anarchy. Addison. -Club moss (Bot.), an evergreen mosslike plant, much used in winter decoration. The best know species is Lycopodium clavatum…

hence,a denomination of money; as, the English crown, a silver coin of the value of five shillings sterling, or a little more than $1.20; the Danish or Norwegian crown, a money of account, etc., worth nearly twenty-seven cents.

ppose them. It afterward became a permanent tax, raised by an assessment, at first of one shilling, afterward of two shillings, upon every hide of land throughout the realm. Wharton's Law Dict. Tomlins.

viduals; a category; as, the denomination of units, or of thousands, or of fourths, or of shillings, or of tons. Those [qualities] which are classed under the denomination of sublime. Burke.

rvants; wages. [Obs.] The entertainment of the general upon his first arrival was but six shillings and eight pence. Sir J. Davies.

An ancient gold coin of the time of Edward III., of six shillings sterling value. Camden.

t coins in different countries. The florin of England, first minted in 1849, is worth two shillings, or about 48 cents; the florin of the Netherlands, about 40 cents; of Austria, about 36 cents.

To bet or wager; as, I'll go you a shilling. [Colloq.] To go halves, to share with another equally. -- To go it, to behave in a wild manner; to be uproarious; to carry on; also, to proceed; to make progress. [Colloq.] -- To go it alone (Card Playing), to play a hand without the assistance of one's partner. -- To go i…

A gold coin of England current for twenty-one shillings sterling, or about five dollars, but not coined since the issue of sovereigns in 1817. The guinea, so called from the Guinea gold out of which it was first struck, was proclaimed in 1663, and to go for twenty shillings; but it never went for less than twenty-one s…

hearths, each hearth (in all houses paying the church and poor rates) being taxed at two shillings; -- called also chimney money, etc. He had been importuned by the common people to relieve them from the . . . burden of the hearth money. Macaulay.