currency

currency
  (ˈkʌrənsɪ)
  [f. as prec. + -ency.]
  † 1. a. The fact or condition of flowing, flow; course; concr. a current, stream. Obs. rare.

1657 Howell Londinop. 18 To preserve the currency of the stream. 1698 Tyson in Phil. Trans. XX. 135 To shew the Currency of their Canalis here. 1758 Binnell Descr. Thames 11 The Currency runs..with such Force, as to render the Navigation thereof imperfect.

  † b. ‘Fluency; readiness of utterance; easiness of pronunciation’ (J.). Obs.
  c. Running, rapid motion. (nonce-use.)

1841 L. Hunt Seer ii. (1864) 69 We are truly in a state of transition,—of currency rather [in a coach].

  2. The course (of time); the time during which anything is current.

1726 Ayliffe Parergon 196 The Currency of Time to establish a Custom, ought to be with a Continuando from the beginning to the end of the Term. 1822–56 De Quincey Confess. Wks. 1862 I. 288 She might be in the currency of her eighth year. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 465 During the entire currency of the lease. 1850 Tait's Mag. XVII. 4/1 Must his exclusion run only during the currency of other parts of his sentence?

  3. Of money: The fact or quality of being current or passing from man to man as a medium of exchange; circulation. Also fig.

1699 Locke 2nd Reply to Bp. of Worcester (R.), 'Tis the receiving of them by others, their very passing, that gives them their authority and currency. 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6078/2 All such of the said Bills..lose their Currency. 1729 Pope Dunc. i. 23 note, The papers of Drapier against the currency of Wood's copper coin in Ireland. 1862 Ruskin Munera P. (1880) 15 The laws of currency and exchange.

  4. a. That which is current as a medium of exchange; the circulating medium (whether coins or notes); the money of a country in actual use.

1729 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 II. 270 Money..by being coined is made a currency. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. ii. ii. (1869) I. 328 The paper currencies of North America. 1861 Goschen For. Exch. 58 If there is a large paper currency side by side with the gold. 1866 Crump Banking vii. 154 The currencies of two countries..being dissimilar.

fig. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) iii. v, General Miseries—the common currency of human existence. 1879 Escott England II. 425 Their mischievous influences upon the moral currency.

  b. spec. Applied to a current medium of exchange when differing in value from the money of account; e.g. the former currency and banco of Hamburg (see banco), the depreciated paper currency of various countries, and the local shillings and pence, of less value than sterling money formerly used in various British colonies.

1755 Johnson, Currency..6. The papers stamped in the English colonies by authority, and passing for money. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. viii. (1869) I. 73 In the province of New York common labourers earn three shillings and sixpence currency. 1872 Japanese in Amer. 201 Paper money..is also called currency.

  c. Formerly a name for native-born Australians, as distinguished from sterling, or English-born. Also attrib. and as adj.

1827 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales II. xxi. 53 Our Currency lads and lasses are a fine interesting race. 1828 Ibid. (ed. 3) 48 The Currencies grow up tall and slender, like the Americans. 1837 J. D. Lang N.S. Wales I. 220 Contests..between the colonial youth and natives of England, or, to use the phrase of the colony, between currency and sterling. 1878 Punch 10 Aug. 60/1 We currency-folk have..been able to absorb your convict refuse without contamination from its criminal leaven. 1892 Lentzner Australian Word-bk. 19 Currency, persons born in Australia, natives of England being termed ‘sterling’. 1894 W. C. Dawe (title) The confessions of a currency girl. 1899 Macm. Mag. June 127/1 The boys when questioned would say: ‘I'm not English; I'm Currency.’ 1953 Landfall VII. 173 She spoke the King's English like a currency lass.

  5. The fact or quality of being current, prevalent, or generally reported and accepted among mankind; prevalence, vogue; esp. of ideas, reports, etc.

1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6077/2 The Currency of the ordinary Distempers. 1798 Ferriar Cert. Varieties Man 213 The story..seems to have gained currency. 1840 Carlyle Heroes (1858) 321 Johnson's Writings, which once had such currency and celebrity, are now as it were disowned by the young generation. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. iv. §53 The currency of this belief continues.

  6. attrib. and Comb. (mostly in senses 3 and 4) as currency crank, currency restriction; currency note, paper money used as currency, esp. the {pstlg}1 and 10s. notes first issued by the Treasury for circulation as legal tender during the war of 1914–18; a treasury note.

1931 H. G. Wells Work, Wealth & Happiness of Mankind (1932) ix. 363 General discussion [on currency] has been further burked by dubbing anyone who raised the question, a ‘Currency Crank’. 1944 G. B. Shaw Everybody's Political What's What xi. 84 The Currency Crank is a nuisance in every movement for social reform.

1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) II. 178 Currency-money here has depreciated..a full third.

1885 Pall Mall G. 9 June 5 America..has shown itself able to do strange things in the way of currency-mongering.

1891 J. L. Kipling Beast & Man in India v. 105 A currency note for a thousand rupees. 1914 Proclamation 3 Feb. in Jrnl. Inst. Bankers (1915) XXXVI. 113 Payment for the order at its face value in coins or currency notes. 1920 Discovery May 145/1 Our over-issues of currency notes. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 969/2 The 1914 Act..allowed an issue of {pstlg}1 and 10s. currency notes by the Treasury.

1866 Crump Banking viii. 160 The great advantage of coined money for currency purposes.

1849 Miss Mulock Ogilvies 17 He is..particularly well read on the currency question.

1967 ‘R. Simons’ Taxed to Death ix. 151 Several printed forms about currency restrictions.

Oxford English Dictionary