William
(ˈwɪljəm)
1. A common masculine personal name, used in the names of certain species of pinks and other flowers: now only in sweet-william. † wild Williams, the Ragged Robin (Lychnis Flos-cuculi).
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. clxxv. 481 The Crow flower is called..wilde Williams, marsh Gilloflowers, and Cockowe Gilloflowers. 1650 [W. Howe] Phytol. Brit. 10 Armerius sylvestris...Crowflower and Wild Williams. Armeria flore simplici, William with single flower in a Wood beyond Redding. 1785 Martyn Lett. Bot. xix. (1794) 276 Ragged-Robin, Meadow-Pinks, Wild-Williams. |
2. An obsolete Dutch coin (see quot. 1893).
| 1844 T. B. Macaulay Let. 9 Oct. (1977) IV. 218 While he was changing me a gold William I got away from the old villain. 1893 R. Bithell Counting-Ho. Dict. (rev. ed.) 317 William, a gold coin formerly used in Holland, and valued at 10 guilders. Its metallic value was about 16s. 2d. sterling. |
3. slang. [With a pun on bill n.3] a. An account for payment, a bill.
| 1859 H. J. Byron Maid & Magpie ii. 18 When de farmers around are behind in their rent I does little Villiams, at sixty per shent. 1903 Farmer & Henley Slang VII. 353/2 To meet sweet William, to meet a bill on presentation. |
b. A dollar note. (See also quot. 1869.) U.S.
Sometimes without a capital initial.
| 1865 Republican Banner (Nashville, Tenn.) 5 Oct. 3/1 Will. had to remember the Workhouse in his will to the tune of a ‘ten dollar William’. 1869 Overland Monthly III. 128 $100 bills were there [sc. in Texas] called ‘Williams’, and $50 bills ‘Blue Williams’. 1887 in Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (1960) 580/1 [He] lost his five dollar William. 1927 C. A. Siringo Riata & Spurs i. 10 Mr. Myers wrote me..to buy a suit of clothes with the twenty-dollar ‘william’. |
4. Used attrib. to designate the style of architecture, furniture, etc., associated with the reign of monarchs of this name; esp. William and Mary (freq. hyphenated), with reference to William III and Mary, joint King and Queen of Great Britain, 1689–94; William IV, with reference to William IV, King of Great Britain, 1830–7.
| 1905 Fenn & Wyllie Old Eng. Furnit. vii. 74 The low-backed armchair..was..subsequently displaced by the more dignified and far more comfortable high-backed kind known to us as the ‘Stuart’ and the ‘William and Mary’ chair. 1927 Daily Tel. 29 Nov. 7/1 Jacobean and William and Mary chests. 1948 D. Welch Jrnl. 31 Aug. (1952) 266 Our chairs were William and Mary with high caned backs. 1955 ‘W. Mole’ Hammersmith Maggot iii. 41 A fine set of William IV chairs. 1977 New Scientist 3 Mar. 512/1 A William-and-Mary country house in the depths of Somerset. 1982 ‘J. Gash’ Firefly Gadroon i. 13 A blazing row over a William IV davenport desk. |
¶ Wiliam pear: see Williams1.