‖ obolus
(ˈɒbələs)
Pl. oboli (-aɪ).
[L. obolus, a. Gr. ὀβολός.]
1. A silver (in later times bronze) coin of ancient Greece, of the value of 1/6 of a drachma.
| 1579–80 North Plutarch (1612) 455 Small peeces of mony..called Oboli, whereof sixe made a Drachma. 1702 Addison Dial. Medals Wks. 1854 I. 258 An as or an obolus may carry an higher price than a denarius or a drachma. 1838 Thirlwall Greece IV. 243 The pay for attendance in the Assembly was raised from one obolus to three. 1851 Willmott Pleas. Lit. xvii. (1857) 86 Belesarius asking an obolus is more touching than a blind sailor who lost his sight before the mast. |
2. Applied to the French obole, and to other coins, mostly of small value, formerly current in Europe; also used allusively for any small coin.
In the Middle Ages there were oboli of gold, silver, and copper: see Du Cange s.v.
In English monetary reckoning formerly used for a halfpenny, and abbreviated ob.; see ob., and cf. denarius ¶ .
| 1761 H. Walpole Lett. to Mann 28 Dec., Their East India bonds did not fall an obolus under par. 1849 W. Irving Mahomet xxxiv. (1853) 152 The boor, who knew nothing of jewels, demanded four silver oboli, or drachms. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh iv. 209 We women should..not throw back an obolus inscribed With Cæsar's image lightly. 1861 Morn. Post 22 Nov., The obolus of St. Peter continues to supply the Government of his Holiness with ample means of providing for the pecuniary exigencies of the State. 1868 Geo. Eliot Sp. Gipsy i. 78 Cheapen it meanly to an obolus. 1893 Bithell Counting-Ho. Dict. s.v., In the Ionian Islands, before the introduction of the system of the French Monetary Convention, the Obolus was 1–100th part of the Ionian Dollar, worth ½d. English. |
† 3. Apothecaries' Weight. A weight of 10 grains, or half a scruple. Obs.
| [1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxx. (1495) nn iij/2 The leest parte of weyghte hyghte Calculus and the fourth parte of weyghte Obulus.] 1634 T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. xxvi. xxi. (1678) 642 Ten grains of these [barley corns] make an Obolus. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 22 The fabrile glue..3 Oboli being drunk with hot Water help the spitting of bloud. |
4. Palæont. A genus of fossil brachiopods, with smooth orbicular bivalve shells, found in the Silurian rocks in Russia and elsewhere.
| 1859 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 8) XVII. 105/1. 1865 [see obolite]. |