convertibility
(kənˌvɜːtɪˈbɪlɪtɪ)
[f. L. convertibil-is convertible + -ity: cf. F. convertibilité (13th c.).]
The quality of being convertible (in different applications of the adj.); spec. the ability of paper money to be converted to gold or of the currency of one country to be freely converted to that of another at a fixed rate.
| 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. 57 The general characteristics of oracles were ambiguity, obscurity and convertibility, so that one answer would agree with several..events. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 163 The mutual convertibility of land into money, and of money into land. 1809 Southey in Q. Rev. I. 213 Proofs of the convertibility of the Hindoos. 1844 Peel in Times 7 May 4/3 Perfect, unlimited competition and convertibility into gold, is not a complete security against overissue. 1875 Lyell Princ. Geol. II. ii. xxxii. 213 The discoveries recently made of the convertibility of one kind of force into another. 1879 Lubbock Addr. Pol. & Educ. ii. 42 The Bank Act certainly has secured the convertibility of the note. 1948 G. Crowther Outl. Money (ed. 2) viii. 274 ‘Convertibility’ meant that any foreigners who came into possession of pounds sterling as a result of current..transactions..were to be allowed to offer them for exchange into foreign currencies. 1949 Times 10 Sept. 5/6 Since the United States is by far the most important country whose currency is convertible into gold at a fixed price, convertibility has recently come to mean convertibility either into gold or into dollars. 1959 Listener 1 Jan. 6/1 Convertibility..is..a demonstration of confidence in sterling. |