‖ toston
(tosˈton)
[(Amer.) Sp.: cf. teston, testoon.]
A silver coin formerly in use in various Latin American countries; in Mexico, equivalent in value to half a peso.
| 1884 A. R. Conkling Appleton's Guide to Mexico xv. 61 Mexico has followed the example of Spain in adopting the decimal system of coinage, of which the real is the basis. The current coins are as follows: Silver. One peso, or dollar, containing 8 reales, or 100 cents. Four reales, or one toston, 50 cents. 1932 H. Crane Let. 22 Apr. (1965) 412 The telegraph office paid us off in six hundred and some odd ‘Tostons’ (about like getting it all in dimes) and neither the Ward Line office nor the official Banco de Mexico would accept them. 1947 M. Lowry Under Volcano vii. 240 Laying a tostón on the counter. 1980 in S. Terkel Amer. Dreams 6 My father's father came from Mexico... He paid a toston, a half-dollar. That automatically made him a U.S. citizen. |