ˈtoken-ˌmoney
a. Eccl. The payment made or contribution given (by way of Easter Offering) by persons on receiving their token that they were duly prepared to make their Easter communion.
(See token 10 b, quot. 1608, and Churchw. Acc. St. Martin in the Fields 37 note.)
| 1546 Churchw. Acc. St. Martin in the Fields 101 In primis Receued and gatherd of the Paryshyons ffor the pascall and tokyn money at Easter in the Church xlis. vjd. 1564 Ibid. 216 It'm Receyued the ix{supt}{suph} of Aprile 1564 for the halfe of the token monneye at Easter xxvjs viij{supd}. 1572 Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 153 Imprimis receaved of the parishenars for the token money at Easter..xlij s. 1573 Ibid. 156 Receavede at Easter of token money..xlv s. x d. 1611 Churchw. Acc. St. Margaret's Westm. (Nichols 1797) 29 Received for the token-money for the whole year, ended the 11th day of May, 1611 {pstlg}6. 5. |
b. Private tokens (token n. 11) issued by a trader or company to serve as a fractional currency and temporary medium of exchange between trader and customer; so token-proprium (token n. 16).
| 1890 Pall Mall G. 9 Jan. 3/3 He has also grocery and provision stores all along the line, and pays all his employés in token-money which he mints himself—probably the most gigantic truck system which ever existed. 1900 M. Phillips (title) The Token-Money of the Bank of England, 1797 to 1816. |
c. State coinage of money not having the intrinsic value for which it is current, but bearing a fixed value relative to gold coin, for which it is exchangeable.
| 1889 Spectator 9 Nov. 641/2 They [gold and silver] perform different functions, and it is this fact which enables a State to use one of them as token-money, the demand for it practically neither rising nor falling according to its price, nor according to the activity of trade. 1892 Pall Mall G. 22 Dec. 2/3 The remedy lies not in increased use of token money, but in providing in gold-using countries a second currency for silver. |